Pariah
by Eventhorizon7
Summary: Some things get better with time, but when Daniel is forced to attend an archaeological society awards dinner, he realises that some things, and some people never change. Note that this will eventually become a Sam/Daniel romantic pairing.
1. Chapter 1

**Pariah**

**Chapter 1**

'_Dear Doctor Jackson,_

_It is with great pleasure that we invite you and a guest to attend this year's annual Archaeological and Anthropological Society awards dinner. _

_Furthermore, we would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your inclusion as one of the final five candidates for the prestigious 'Arthur Belmont' award. _

_We look forward to meeting both you and your guest and we enclose a schedule which gives details of the hotel accommodation and dress code for the evening.'_

Daniel's eyes widened as he looked at the gilt edged invitation. Flipping it over, he began to read the attached letter which contained the schedule for the event. He shook his head, his mind already deciding to consign it to the nearest waste basket.

They had to be kidding!

He was just about to dump the invitation in the trash can when he noticed the yellow post it note stuck in the upper right hand corner. He squinted as he read the familiar scrawled handwriting, noting with amusement the way in which the author always tried to squash as much information as he could onto the note's tiny surface area.

Someone was going to have to explain to Sgt Harriman that it was perfectly alright to use more than one post it per incoming letter.

Just then two words jumped out at him from the note.

'Invitation Accepted.'

Daniel blinked.

"What the hell..."

No way.

There had to have been a mistake.

Sitting down heavily in his desk chair, he picked up the telephone and dialled the extension for Landry's office.

Harriman answered on the first ring.

"Sgt. Harriman, it's Doctor Jackson, is it possible to speak with the General?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but the General is in the middle of a conference call with the Joint Chiefs."

"Do you know when he will be finished?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but the last one lasted a couple of hours."

"I see," Daniel used his forefinger to nudge at a pencil that was sitting atop a pile of folders on his desk, "do you think you could let me know when he becomes free. It's important that I speak to him."

"I'm afraid that he has a pretty full itinerary today, sir." Harriman's voice sounded apologetic and Daniel surmised that the sergeant was probably fully aware of his reason for wanting to talk with the General.

"It's really important, Walter, I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't."

"I'll let him know of your request, sir?"

"Thank you, I appreciate it."

Daniel replaced the receiver and stared at the telephone.

He needed to see Landry, needed to ask him why he had ordered Harriman to accept the invitation on his behalf.

It wasn't the first time he had been contacted by the Archaeological community, although he had to admit that it was the first time that he had been nominated for an award. Previously he had been able to convince Hammond and then Jack to let him politely turn down their overtures. However, this time he hadn't even had a choice in the matter, the Air Force had taken the decision out of his hands and replied on his behalf and that rankled.

They had no right to do that, he was a civilian. Strictly speaking they had no right to even intercept his mail, but he had begrudgingly allowed them to do that because of the tight security that surrounded the project.

Never before had they replied to something in his name, usually Walter and his ubiquitous post it notes flagged things up for Daniel to read. In some ways it was good having a personal assistant, for Walter had managed to sidetrack a lot of the crap that usually came his way, but this time he, and by extension General Landry, had overstepped the mark.

Daniel sighed and looked at his watch, it was just past ten o'clock. If Walter was right, then Landry would be in his conference call for some time yet. Rather than wait around for the sergeant's call, it would be better if he found some work to occupy his mind.

He rummaged around on his cluttered desk, shifting various folders and open text books to one side and dug out a yellow notepad. Upon it were the notes that he had written the day before regarding the artefact that SG-17 had brought back. He took a moment to study what he had written, trying to force his mind away from the invitation, but he found that he couldn't concentrate.

Setting down the notepad, he picked up the gilt edged invitation once more and held it between his index fingers. His eyes scrutinized the flamboyant typeface as though it were an alien manuscript that had been brought to him for translation.

In his mind he found himself back in that Chicago lecture hall, surrounded by the contemptuous looks and snide comments of his peers. One by one he watched them leave, shaking their heads in disbelief at his theory regarding the ancient pyramids of Egypt.

He had been vilified, ostracised by a narrow minded group of people who preferred to keep to their orthodox traditions than look for the missing answers outside of the normal parameters of the archaeological world. Thanks to their dogmatic approach he had systematically lost his research grant, his teaching post and his apartment.

If it hadn't had been for his chance encounter with Catherine Langford, he would have been left penniless and destitute.

And now... some ten years later those same narrow minded individuals were asking him back. He felt a little righteous indignation seemed appropriate given the circumstances.

In a fit of pique he crumpled the invitation up and threw it with more than a little forcefulness toward the trash can. The screwed up ball bounced upon its rim, like a basketball around a hoop, before landing on the floor several feet away from it's intended target.

"Have SG-9 been making up fake translations again?"

Daniel's eyes shot away from the trash can toward his unnoticed visitor.

Sam was leaning nonchalantly against his doorframe, her arms folded across her chest. She wore an amused smirk on her lips, but upon seeing Daniel's less than happy demeanour, the smile disappeared, replaced instead by a look of puzzled concern.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"See for yourself." Daniel nodded toward the discarded item on the floor.

Sam pushed herself away from the doorframe and stepped into the room. She bent down and retrieved the crumpled invitation, smoothing it out so that she could read it. She ran her eyes across the now rather tatty looking card and then looked back at him.

"I'm guessing from your reaction that you're not exactly enamoured with this?" She glanced back down at the invitation and the earlier puzzled expression returned. "Daniel, you're nominated for the Arthur Belmont award, that's pretty big stuff." She glanced toward the archaeologist. "Wasn't Howard Carter the inaugural winner?"

"Yes."

"And isn't it only awarded every fifteen years or so?"

Despite his feelings regarding the invitation, Daniel couldn't help the smile that formed on his lips.

"I think I'm gonna have to ban you from reading my archaeological journals when you raid my coffee supply. You're becoming too well informed."

Sam smiled in return and walked across to the chair that sat opposite Daniel's desk. She lowered herself into it, placing the invitation on the top of the nearest pile of scattered notes and half- translated manuscripts.

"Aren't you proud to be nominated for such a prestigious award? I know I would be."

Daniel sighed softly.

"If I thought for one second that they were considering me for the right reasons, then of course I'd be proud," he removed his glasses, using the hem of his black t-shirt to clean the lenses, "but we both know that this isn't the case. They've included me for writing an article based upon orthodox procedures, procedures that I don't entirely believe in anymore."

He replaced his glasses and pushed them up his nose with the tip of his index finger.

"They'll never truly accept me, Sam, and I'll never truly accept my place amongst them until I've been vindicated, until I hear them apologise for how they treated me." He fixed her with a knowing look. "That's never gonna happen, not as long as the Stargate programme remains the world's greatest secret."

Sam had the good grace to not try and contradict him on that last point. They both knew that the programme wasn't likely to be going public anytime soon.

"Have you considered that they're offering you some kind of olive branch with the nomination?"

"The only reason that I'm on that shortlist is because I conformed, played by their rules and I only did that because the Air Force insisted upon it." He shook his head sadly. "Don't you ever wish that we could just be truthful, that we could tell it as it is, blow apart the scientific and academic communities with all the knowledge that we've learned over the last decade?"

He could tell by the slight narrowing of her eyes that she had considered that thought and he knew from past conversations that she felt just as frustrated and hogtied by the secrecy as he did. However, unlike him, she had come to accept that the secrecy was part of the job and he supposed that being a military officer helped in that regard, bound as she was by the myriad of rules and regulations that she encountered on a daily basis.

"I don't think the academic community or the world in general is ready for some of the things that we know, Daniel."

Her blue eyes rose to meet his and he saw within their depths some of the emotional wounds that ten years of off world combat and exploration had inflicted upon her. He knew that his own emotional scars were probably visible to her and he came to the reluctant conclusion that she was probably right, that the world wasn't ready for some of the things that they had witnessed.

"Doctor Jackson," General Landry's voice floated in from the doorway, " I understand that you wanted to see me?" Sam immediately stood up, coming to an easy attention as their commanding officer strode into the room. "Ah, and I see that Colonel Carter is with you, that makes things a whole lot easier, saves me having to send Walter on a mission to track her down."

The General waved his hand in Sam's direction.

"Please retake your seat, Colonel."

Sam gave Daniel an uneasy look as she complied with the General's request.

Landry came over to stand by the side of Daniel's desk. He picked up a stone tablet and began to examine it, running his hands across its surface, turning his head this way and that as though he were trying to decipher its meaning. Finally he returned it to the desk and refocused his attention back toward the archaeologist.

"You know when I was a young Lieutenant, an instructor once told me that to be a good commander I would have to spend some time in the shoes of each and every man and woman under my command." He chuckled softly. "He obviously never envisioned working in a place like this. I couldn't even begin to know what it feels like to stand in your shoes Doctor Jackson."

"Right now they feel a little uncomfortable General."

"So I understand." Landry walked toward the last empty chair in the room and picked it up, placing it next to the one that Sam sat in and lowered himself into it. "I'm going to cut to the chase here and assume that the reason that you wanted to see me was because of the invitation that I had Walter accept on your behalf?"

"Yes it is."

"And I'm going to also assume that we don't need to bring Colonel Carter up to speed and that she is already aware of the invitation?"

"Yes she is." Daniel's eyes glanced toward Sam who seemed to be as puzzled by the General's last comment as he felt. He brushed the thought aside and refocused upon Landry. "See the thing is General, I was under the impression that I was still a civilian, that I still had the right to make my own decisions."

"Easy son," Landry's posture stiffened slightly, "that's still the case."

"Then I'd like to know why in this instance that decision was taken away from me?"

The General let out a long, slow sigh and sat back in his chair.

Daniel immediately decided that he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear.

"Okay, I'll give you the abridged version. Certain people in Washington thought it would be a good idea for you to go. You haven't been seen in public since Catherine Langford's funeral, and it was felt that it was about time that situation was addressed in order to stop any unnecessary speculation about your whereabouts."

"By certain people, I'm assuming that you mean the IOA?" Daniel's chair creaked softly as he sat forward. "Since when did politicians and the military have a say over what I can and cannot do?"

"I have to admit that when I received my orders regarding this situation, I didn't like it anymore than you do, but when I took it up with my superiors I was told in no uncertain terms that your attendance at the ceremony is non negotiable." Landry smiled warmly at the archaeologist. "Look on the bright side, it's not everyday that someone from this base is nominated for such a highly sought after prize."

Daniel could feel his anger begin to bubble up, he fought to keep it in check before it burst forth in a torrent he wouldn't be able to control.

"Did the people in Washington pull strings to have my name put on the shortlist?"

Landry looked genuinely surprised at Daniel's question.

"Your inclusion on the shortlist was entirely down to the merits of the paper that you submitted." Landry pushed forward, his large hands coming to rest upon his knees. "In fact, it's my guess that if you hadn't been nominated then Washington may well have let you decline the invitation as you have done in the past."

"With all due respect General, I think that any decision regarding the acceptance of the invitation should have been mine alone to make. At the very least I should have been consulted by either you or by the IOA. After all I think that I'm the best judge on how I'm likely to be received by my fellow academics." Daniel ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "I wrote that paper nearly three years ago, just to appease the Air Force. I haven't set foot on an orthodox dig in years, most of my expeditions now take place off world and you know as well as I do that I can't exactly write an academic paper on those."

"All the more reason for you to enjoy your moment in the limelight, Doctor."

"I don't want to enjoy my moment in the limelight, in fact I can assure you that if I go to that ceremony, enjoying it is going to be the last thing that I would do." He sighed, his eyes rising to meet with those of the General. "Have you any idea of the reception I'd receive?"

Landry seemed to take a moment to consider his question.

"I've read your file. I know what happened, but that was a long time ago, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then."

Daniel laughed mirthlessly.

"We're talking archaeologists here, General, the passage of time to them is meaningless. Ten years may as well be ten seconds as far as they are concerned. Trust me, their memories will be as sharp as ever. If I go to that ceremony, it'll be like providing them with a sacrificial lamb."

"I'm sorry Doctor Jackson, but like I explained my hands are tied. The invitation has been accepted on your behalf, all the arrangements have been made. I suggest you try and enjoy it the best you can."

Landry rose from his chair and straightened his uniform. He slipped a hand inside his jacket and pulled out a couple of commercial airline tickets, placing them upon the jumbled mess on Daniel's desk.

"They're First Class... I thought it would make a change from riding in the back of an uncomfortable C140."

Daniel picked up the nearest one and flipped open the outer cover.

"General, this ticket has Sam's name on it."

"It does?" The surprise in Sam's voice caused both men to look toward her. She glanced at the ticket in Daniel's hand, then at the General.

"Which brings me to the reason why I was glad that Colonel Carter was already here." Landry adjusted his stance slightly so that he faced Sam. "Colonel, you will be attending the ceremony as Doctor Jackson's military liaison officer. You are to make sure that nothing occurs that might put his cover story or the secrecy of the Stargate programme in jeopardy."

"Forgive me for asking, sir, but was this your decision or the IOA's?" Although Sam's question was couched in the professional courtesy dictated by Landry's higher rank, Daniel still detected a hint of defiance in its tone.

"As you can probably imagine, Colonel, Washington wanted to provide their own liaison officer, but I managed to overrule them. I thought that given Doctor Jackson's past history with his fellow academics, he might want to have a friend at his side."

There was a look in Landry's eyes that suddenly made Daniel want to reconsider the General's part in the whole thing. Perhaps he understood the situation a lot more clearly than he let on, maybe he really had tried his best to derail the process, but like a lot of serving officers in the military, his superiors had had the last say.

If that was the case, then he was trying his best to sweeten the bitter pill in whatever way that he could.

"Would you like me to appoint someone from Washington in your stead, Colonel?"

Sam shook her head.

"No sir, that won't be necessary."

"Good... then that's settled. As far as everyone at the ceremony is concerned you are attending as Doctor Jackson's guest. Under no circumstance is his cover to be breached, no one is to know of his affiliation to the military and this establishment. While there Colonel, you will go by your doctorial title, is that understood?"

"Understood, sir."

"Then all there is left to say is good luck with your nomination Doctor Jackson, have a safe and enjoyable trip and I'll see you both upon your return." The General turned on his heel and marched toward the doorway, as he crossed the threshold he turned back, a small smile playing against his lips. "Oh, and one more thing..."

"Sir?"

"I believe Hawaii is very enjoyable this time of year."

Sam turned around and stared straight at Daniel, her blue eyes wide with surprise.

"Hawaii!?"

Daniel shrugged and picked up the letter that had been attached to the invitation. He read the itinerary once more, taking more notice this time than he had when his thoughts had been of tossing it away. Oh, yeah there it was...

He looked up at his astonished friend.

"I guess I forgot to mention that."


	2. Chapter 2

**Pariah**

**Chapter 2**

"Could you check your records again, because I think there must have been some mistake?"

When the concierge gave Daniel the same withering look that he had given him the first time that the archaeologist had queried their accommodation, Sam had to physically bite the inside of her cheek in order not to laugh.

They had been standing at the front of the check in line for more than ten minutes and Daniel looked just as befuddled now as he had when the concierge had first given him their key cards.

"I assure you sir, that this establishment is not in the business of making mistakes. You may have encountered that kind of thing with the lower end of the hospitality market..," the concierge gave Daniel another snide look, this time taking in his dishevelled appearance, most likely deducing from it that the man standing in front of him belonged in the lower end of the market, "but you will not find that here. Accuracy is something that we pride ourselves in at this hotel."

Behind them, the guests still waiting to be checked in began to murmur and fidget, a sure sign that they were getting restless.

Sam decided that it might be time that she stepped in and assumed the role of peacekeeper.

"Ah, Daniel, maybe we should just go up and have a look at the rooms?"

Daniel turned to face her, his eyes red rimmed with fatigue.

Their flight from Denver had been delayed by six hours due to a pretty nasty snow front blowing in from Chicago. When they had eventually boarded the plane and taken off, the flight had turned out to be full of screaming children and fraught parents and even in their first class seats they had had no respite from the cacophony of noise.

There had been a moment when she had pined for the draughty discomfort of a C140.

It was obvious from Daniel's tired expression that all he wanted to do was go to his room and rest, but the confusion over where their rooms actually were was keeping him glued to the reception desk as if he were a barnacle stuck to the side of a ship.

"Sam, these can't be our key cards..." he turned back once more to face the concierge, "...there has to have been some kind of error... they're for the penthouse suite."

The concierge peeked at Daniel from behind his designer glasses, a deep frown creasing his forehead. Sam watched as he bit into his lower lip, obviously biting off the words that he wanted to say. However, his efforts at trying to remain civil seemed to be causing a strange kind of nervous tick to erupt in the corner of his eye.

It was no longer funny anymore, the whole situation was verging on getting out of control. If Daniel kept up his stubborn reluctance to accept the key cards, they might find themselves thrown out of the hotel completely. Add to that, the fact that every convention known to man seemed to be heading for the Hawaiian Islands and the chances of them finding another hotel would be slim to non existent.

"Do you think that you could just check the computer one more time?" Sam smiled sweetly at the poor man behind the desk, taking pity on him, "It's just that the penthouse suite isn't our usual kind of accommodation."

"Obviously."

The concierge's tone had just a tad too much sarcasm for Sam's liking and for the second time since they had left the mountain complex, she had rued not packing her P-90.

However, her sweet natured appeal seemed to do the trick because after a few moments he tapped at a few buttons upon his keyboard and waited for the computer screen to show him the information that he had requested.

"Hey! Do you think you could speed it up a little?" The businessman behind them, stepped closer, until his body was almost sandwiched between theirs, "there's a game starting in twenty minutes and I'd like to be in my room to enjoy it."

There was a slight murmur of agreement from the rest of the clientele waiting to be checked in.

The concierge swivelled his computer screen around so that it faced Sam and Daniel.

"Are you Doctor Samantha Carter?"

Remembering that for the duration of her stay, she had to go by her academic credentials, Sam nodded in agreement.

"Yes."

The concierge turned from her to Daniel.

"And are you..," he consulted his computer screen, his left eyebrow raising sharply indicating that he didn't fully believe what he was reading, "...are you Doctor Daniel Jackson?" His voice was laced with a heavy dose of scepticism regarding the legitimate nature of Daniel's doctorate. Sam wondered how he would react if he knew about the other Phd's that her friend had safely tucked away.

"Yes."

"Then there has been no mistake, these are your key cards."

"But..." Daniel began, but before he could say anything else, Sam grabbed the key cards out of his hand and pushed him toward the elevator.

"Come on, Daniel, let's just go."

"But...Sam... there has to be..."

"Let's just find out shall we."

Sam jabbed at the elevator button and the doors opened. She stepped inside and waited for Daniel to join her.

"Maybe if we just join the back of the queue... we could."

"Daniel!.." She was rapidly losing her patience, "Just get in the damn elevator."

Daniel looked at her warily and she could see that he was debating with himself whether it would be prudent to argue with her. She shifted her stance slightly and glared at him, letting him know with her body language that the subject was no longer up for debate.

Daniel held out his hands in mock surrender.

"Okay, Sam, we'll do it your way."

He stepped into the car and Sam turned away from him, turning her attention toward the floor panel, trying to find a button for the penthouse suite.

"Sam?"

"Hmm."

"Put the key card in the slot above the panel, it'll take us straight to the suite."

Right...why hadn't she thought of that?

She pushed one of the key cards into the slot and the doors closed, the elevator began it's accent and she watched silently as the floor numbers lit up and went out as they passed by. When all the numbers had gone out, the elevator still continued it's accent, until with a soft ding, it came to a halt.

When the doors opened, Sam felt as if she had travelled through the Stargate to a different world.

"Oh my God!"

In front of her was the most incredible view she had ever seen.

And she had seen quite a few.

The view through the penthouse window was truly amazing, she could see the Pacific Ocean spread out before her, the whitecaps small specks upon its surface. The sun was setting, settling itself upon the horizon, bathing the whole room within its rich, warm, amber glow.

It was truly breathtaking.

She stepped further into the room, setting her carryall onto the floor at her feet and just stood there letting her senses take it all in. Suddenly she had an urge to go out onto the balcony, so she moved across the living room and opened the sliding doors that led out onto the deck.

The air around her was filled with the iodine scent of the ocean, interlaced with the fragrance of tropical flowers, she inhaled a deep lungful, letting it infuse her senses and she immediately felt some of the tension in her body begin to ebb away.

"Sam?"

She turned to find Daniel standing at the balcony doorway, his face looking thoughtful as he gazed at her. She beckoned him out onto the deck, but he shook his head.

"Why don't you watch the sunset with me, Daniel?"

He paused at the doorway for a second or two as though he were weighing up her request before hesitantly taking a tentative step out onto the decking.

His cautious approach made Sam realise that he was having trouble with his occasional bouts of vertigo.

"Come on, Daniel," she held her hand out to him, "I promise I won't let you fall." As he reached her, she curled her fingers around his and squeezed them softly. "Try not to think about the strange compulsion that you're being drawn to the edge, try and concentrate on something else...the horizon...the sunset."

At first Daniel stood stiffly, holding her hand as though it were his last link to the world around him, then gradually she felt him begin to relax.

In silence they watched the last shards of sunlight slip over the edge of the horizon.

"Do you remember the sunsets we watched on PN5-797?"

"Yes, it's not every day you get to witness a duel sunset, it's not something I'm likely to forget." He turned to face her, his soft blue eyes holding hers within their penetrating gaze. "I wasn't the only one enthralled by the sheer wonder of it, as I recall."

"It certainly was something to behold."

"Yes it was."

The way that he said the words made Sam think that he wasn't entirely talking about the sunset that they had shared.

Daniel's gaze shifted slightly, slipping across her face, lingering on her lips for a long moment before he drew his eyes back up to meet with hers.

Sam's heartbeat seemed to stutter in her chest as her stomach did a little flip flop. This was a feeling that she was becoming more and more aware of around Daniel, but she refused to let herself dwell upon its meaning.

"I owe the concierge an apology."

It took a moment for the words to sink in, but when they did it seemed to break the strange moment that had just happened between them.

Sam pulled back a little and stared at him.

"Sorry?"

Daniel smiled.

"I said I owe the concierge an apology. While you were exploring the wonders of a Pacific sunset, I came across something in the suite. That's what I was coming to tell you about." He tugged on her hand leading her back toward the doorway. When they passed back into the suite, he led her into a small kitchen area.

Upon the marble counter top was a bottle of champagne cooling within a bucket of ice.

Next to it was an envelope.

"When I saw this I thought that they'd got our reservations mixed up, but then I read what was in the envelope."

Daniel handed Sam the envelope and beckoned her to open it, she extracted a single sheet of paper.

'_Daniel..._

_Hank told me about your little forced vacation, I agree with you, it sucks! I tried to find a way to help you, but there was nothing that I could do, so I hope that this goes some way toward making you and Carter feel a little more comfortable with the situation._

_I had your rooms upgraded and what do you know... the only upgrade they had available was the penthouse! Think of it as your tax dollars at work, or more importantly as a big honking thank you from the Air Force for all the times that one or other of you have pulled our collective butts out of the fire._

_Hey, you're in Hawaii... have fun... and Carter, I hope you had the good sense to pack a bikini."_

_Enjoy!_

_Jack. _

Sam read the note one more time before placing it on the counter, she looked up at Daniel, a huge grin spreading across her face.

"I guess there'll be no pay rises next year. I think the General just blew most of the budget on our upgrade."

Daniel just shook his head in wry amusement.

"I think Jack and Landry are trying to make this trip as painless as possible for us." The earlier amusement faded away to be replaced by a deepening frown. "At least it'll be painless until we have to meet the others."

Sam watched his face darken, watched as the tension in his body seemed to increase at the thought of having to once more face his detractors.

"Will it really be that bad?"

"Let's put it this way... I'd rather willingly submit to having a larval Goa'uld implanted in me, than face the pack of hyenas that are on that shortlist."

"Ouch!" Sam's hand slipped into Daniel's and she gave it a soft, comforting squeeze.

Daniel looked away from her, slipping his free hand around the neck of the cooling champagne bottle and pulled in out of its ice bucket.

"A '73 Bollinger... Jack really did push the boat out." He twisted the bottle around so that Sam could read the label. "I guess we shouldn't let it go to waste, but I'm way too tired to drink it tonight. Between the flight out here and the scene in the lobby, I'm ready to call it a night."

Sam moved around him, opening some of the various cupboards that adorned the kitchen area. The place was more like an apartment than a hotel room. On her third attempt she found what she had been looking for, one of the cupboards was actually a refrigerator, she felt inside to gauge the temperature, then taking the bottle out of Daniel's hand, she placed it inside and closed the door.

"That's cool enough to keep it at the right temperature. We'll drink it tomorrow, once we know if you have something to celebrate or not."

"I think it's more likely to be a commiseration than a celebration."

"Oh ye of little faith."

"Oh I have plenty of faith in some things, you, Jack and Teal'c for one, but I don't have a lot in this dog and pony show that I'm being forced to attend."

Daniel attempted a smile, but his fatigue level made it look half hearted at best.

"Come on, Daniel, lets find the bedrooms so that you can get bunked down for the night. You look exhausted."

She lead him out of the kitchen and together they began to explore the rest of the penthouse.

When they reached the bathroom, Sam let out a little squeal of pleasure at the sight of the claw foot bath.

"I'm claiming first dibs on that in the morning."

Daniel let out a soft chuckle.

"Sam, I never thought you could be such a girl."

She tried to send a glare in his direction, but it didn't work, she ended up smiling instead. Tugging once more on his hand, they left the bathroom and made their way to one of the two doors that lead off from it.

An enormous bedroom greeted them, with a wall length window that looked out on the ocean beyond. Taking up most of the centre of the room was a huge antique four poster bed.

"Oh my!"

Sam walked over to the bed and placed her palm upon the comforter, it was so soft that it left an indentation when she moved it away. She looked up at the hanging canopy, taking in the intricate patterns on its surface, before focusing her eyes upon the incredibly detailed carvings on the bedposts and headboard.

"I used to dream of a bed like this when I was a little girl, it looks like it's stepped out of a fairy tale."

She hadn't known that Daniel had entered the room until she heard his soft voice beside her.

"I guess you'll be taking first dibs on this as well?"

"We could toss a coin for it?"

Daniel shook his head, smiling.

"I wouldn't want to deprive you of a childhood fantasy," he jerked his head toward the door that led off of the other side of the bathroom, "I'll take that one."

He turned and left the room. Instead of going straight to the other bedroom, he turned and disappeared into the lounge area. A few moments later he returned with both his and Sam's bags. He placed hers just inside the door of her room.

"Goodnight, Sam."

"Nite, Daniel."

Stifling a yawn behind his hand, Sam watched as he turned and headed for the other bedroom.

She crossed to her carryall and picked it up, her mind already thinking about unpacking.

A soft knock on her door interrupted her, she turned to find a concerned looking Daniel in the doorway.

"What's up?"

"It's a closet."

"Sorry?"

"The other bedroom, it's not a bedroom at all, Sam, but a huge walk in closet."

"You're kidding?"

He shook his head dolefully at her.

"I figure it's one of two things... either it's a pretty bad joke on Jack's part or he forgot to check that there were two bedrooms when he upgraded us," Daniel shrugged his shoulders, "anyhow I'm going to bunk down on one of those couches in the living room."

"Wait! You can't do that."

"I don't think I have a choice, there isn't any other rooms available and even if there were I doubt that the concierge would assign me one, not after the fuss I caused in the lobby."

"That's not what I meant. I meant you don't have to sleep on the couch," Sam gestured toward the four poster bed, "you can sleep here."

"No way, Sam! I'm not going to let you sleep on the couch!"

This time Sam did manage a glare in his direction.

"Trust me, Daniel, I have no intention of spending the night on the couch... we'll sleep in the bed together...it's more than big enough."

Daniel's eyes widened to almost saucer like proportions behind his glasses. He glanced toward the bed with a look of trepidation.

"Sleep together?"

"We do it all the time when we go off world. If I ever stop to do the math I would probably figure out that I spend more time sleeping next to you in a sleeping bag than I do in my own bed."

"But we're not off world... and that..." Daniel waved his had in the general direction of the bed, "...is not a sleeping bag."

"It's nice to know that your powers of observation have not been dulled by your fatigue."

"I'll be fine on the couch."

"You'll be better in the bed."

"Sam..."

"Look...what's the problem?" She walked toward him until she was directly looking at him. "Do you really want to argue about this? It's late, we're tired, lets just go to bed."

Daniel's eyes looked over her shoulder toward the bed. She could almost see the mini war taking place in his head as he debated it with himself, could see the moment when his tiredness finally won the battle.

"Okay, we'll share the bed, but in the morning we'll talk with the concierge, see if they have one of those fold up beds that they could let us have."

He turned and left the room, returning with his bag and began to pull t-shirts and underwear from it.

Once the decision had been made, it became amazingly simple to just go with it.

They took turns using the spacious bathroom to change into their night wear. Then they discussed which side of the bed they wanted to sleep on and with that decision made they finally climbed into the sumptuous bed.

The incredibly smooth satin sheets seemed to enfold Sam inside its silky cocoon and she immediately felt the tension of the last few hours begin to fade away.

"So..." Daniel's voice was soft and low, "is it like living out a fantasy from your childhood?"

She didn't answer him, but turned to switch off the light, sending the room into an inky blackness. Even through the glazed windows, she could hear the muffled sounds of the ocean as it hit the shoreline.

"Get some sleep, Daniel, tomorrow's going to be a long day."

He mumbled a sleepy goodnight and rolled onto his side. Sam listened in the darkness as his breathing settled, as he slowly surrendered his body into the awaiting slumberous arms of sleep.

She kept thinking about his question and why she hadn't answered it.

Okay, so it would have been easy enough to have told him that lying in that big four poster bed was fulfilling her childhood fantasy, but it would have been a lie, because at that moment it wasn't a childhood fantasy that she was part fulfilling.

It was another kind of fantasy altogether.

A more adult one, one that she had kept secret and to herself for more years than she cared to admit.

A fantasy that involved Daniel.

Rolling over onto her side, Sam forced herself to think about anything other than the contents of that fantasy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Pariah**

**Chapter 3**

It had felt to Daniel as though he had only just put his head down upon the pillow, but now the bright light on the other side of his eyelids was telling him that morning had somehow arrived in the space of a nanosecond.

He felt a reluctance to fully wake up; wanting nothing more than to drift back to sleep. He was feeling pretty good, his body relaxed and rested in a way that he hadn't felt in a very long time and he just wanted to enjoy it.

He was also experiencing something else that he hadn't felt in a very long time and he couldn't help wondering if perhaps he was having a particularly vivid dream.

For wrapped within his arms was a woman.

Daniel's eyes popped open with that realisation and he blinked them a couple of times to clear the sleepiness from his vision.

The room became a soft focused blur, but even without his glasses he could tell that he wasn't in his own apartment.

Try as he might, he was having a difficult time trying to figure out where he was and exactly who it was that he had taken to bed last night. It wasn't like him to do something like this, even during his most lonely moments he had always managed to curb his body's natural instincts.

Just at that moment, the woman nestled snugly against his body stirred, her hand drifting slowly and tenderly away from his abdomen to come to a rest palm down over his erratically beating heart.

A contented sigh broke from her lips, her face tilting up toward him as though in her dream state she were seeking him out for a kiss.

Daniel screwed up his courage and squinted down at the woman, trying to bring her features into clearer focus, hoping that in doing so, it might jog his reluctant memory into providing him with all the missing pieces of the jigsaw.

But when he saw who it was nestled in his arms, he nearly had a heart attack.

Sam.

He was in bed with Sam!

When he was finally able to get his breathing and dangerously thumping heart under some kind of control, he challenged his still sleep fogged brain to try and make some sense of what he was seeing.

But the more he racked his brain, the more confused he became.

He couldn't for the life of him remember taking her to bed.

Or making love to her.

How could he not remember making love to her?

It should be etched upon his memory as indelibly as the hieroglyphs in an Egyptian temple.

Gradually, like the slow drip, drip of a faucet, his mind started to fill in some of the blanks, and before long the dripping had turned into a full blown torrent of remembrance.

They were in Hawaii.

To attend an awards ceremony that Daniel didn't want to go to.

They were staying in the penthouse suite, but Jack had screwed up the upgrade and there was only one bedroom.

He was sharing the bed with Sam because she had insisted that it was better than him sleeping on the couch.

They had fallen asleep on separate sides of the bed.

They had not become lovers.

They had not so much as kissed.

Daniel swallowed slowly and closed his eyes, shutting them against the wellspring of disappointment that suddenly engulfed him.

It had all been a case of wishful thinking.

Opening his eyes, he took a moment to watch Sam as she slept, trying to memorise the serene look that graced her face and the relaxed way in which she rested in his arms. He raised a hand, letting his fingers brush tenderly against her cheek.

Sam let out another sigh and snuggled further against him.

The contented smile that formed on her lips made him wonder who it was that was occupying her dreams.

All too soon she began to stir and this time Daniel knew that she was waking up. He also knew that she would be as confused as he was upon waking and he wanted to spare her any kind of embarrassment, especially when she realised that she had been snuggled up against him in an inappropriate manner.

So he shut his eyes and willed his breathing to become shallower, so that he could pretend that he was still asleep.

He knew when she became fully alert to her surroundings because he felt her body tense up, heard the gasp of air that left her lungs as if she had been sucker punched.

An irrational part of him hoped that she might choose to remain where she was, even as the more logical part of his brain argued that he was deluding himself.

They were friends.

Good friends.

Best friends.

Nothing more.

Gently, she began to extricate herself from his embrace, leaving the parts of his body where they had touched feeling cold and bereft.

He became acutely aware of her staring at him and he wondered if she was taking a moment to watch him sleep as he had done with her. He thought he felt her fingers brush against his skin, but he couldn't be sure.

Then he felt the mattress dip as she turned away from him, tugging the soft down comforter over her shoulders.

He had gone from holding her in his arms to having a significant no man's land between them. The disappointment of earlier intensified.

Daniel forced himself to count slowly to one hundred before opening his eyes.

He couldn't stay in bed like this, not when he could still feel the warmth of her body against his, not when he could smell that special fragrance that he had labelled so long ago as being uniquely hers.

It was torture.

This was one of the reasons why he had been so reluctant to share the bed with her in the first place.

He exaggerated a yawn and stretched, trying to make it sound as if he was genuinely waking up. He slipped his hand over to the nightstand and snagged his glasses from the surface and put them on.

The world turned from a hazy blur into sharp focus and Daniel found himself staring up at the intricately designed canopy of the four poster bed.

He tossed the comforter away from him and slid his legs to the side. The carpeting beneath his feet was plush and his toes sank down into it. He levered himself away from the bed and walked toward the bathroom.

He ignored the almost overwhelming urge to look at Sam.

Reaching the bathroom, he softly closed the door behind him.

When he had finished using the facilities, he washed his hands and splashed cold water onto his face, but when he looked up into the mirror, he was surprised to see the disappointment still heavily etched upon his face.

He knew that it was ridiculous to feel like this, to feel so utterly bereft of her touch. Nothing had happened between them and in all likelihood nothing every would, and yet he felt as if something vital and precious had been snatched away from him.

Somehow he had to get his thoughts under control before Sam woke up because he couldn't risk her seeing them and putting two and two together.

His eyes came to rest on the claw footed bath tub and he remembered what Sam had said the night before about wanting to make use of it that morning. He guessed that he better shower now so that he could give her all the time that she needed to indulge herself in that guilty pleasure.

He crossed to the shower cubicle and cranked open the handle, sending cold shower spray in all directions inside the stall. He yanked a towel off of the rack and stripped off his clothes. Not waiting for the shower to warm up, he stepped inside.

Cold water cascaded over his shoulders and took his breath away. He hoped that maybe it would act to erase some of the deep set disappointment that he couldn't seem to shrug off.

Twenty minutes later he was feeling somewhat better; he finished drying himself and draped the towel around his waist before exiting the bathroom. He glanced toward where Sam was sleeping. He crossed over to her and sat on the side of the bed. Gently he shook her shoulder to wake her up.

"Hey Sam, wake up."

She remained still, so he gently shook her shoulder again.

"There's a claw foot bath with your name on it."

She reacted this time, cranking open her eyes and trying to look as though she was blurry with sleep. It might have fooled someone else, but as Daniel was playing the same game of 'let's pretend that we were asleep' it looked blatantly obvious that she had been awake for some time.

"If you want to indulge yourself in that rather antiquated looking bathtub, then you better move yourself, especially if you want to make breakfast."

"What time is it?"

Daniel looked down at the watch that he had just finished fastening to his wrist.

"Eight-thirty, breakfast finishes at ten."

Sam sat up and ran the fingers of one hand through her hair.

"Wow! I must have been more tired than I thought. I don't think that I moved from that one spot all night." She gave him a hesitant look and he wondered if she were waiting for him to contradict her. "How about you?"

"Slept like a log...first time in ages."

His eyes held hers for a moment before looking away, this time in the pretence of trying to remember where he had left his carryall.

He moved off the bed and strode over to the bag and began to rummage through it.

He heard Sam move off of the bed, heard the zipper being pulled on her own luggage bag and then heard her soft footfalls as she made her way into the bathroom.

She closed the bathroom door softly behind her.

Daniel looked up from his bag and let out an exhalation of breath, pleased that they both appeared to have negotiated that awkward hurdle without falling flat on their faces.

Now all he had to do was get through the rest of the day.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Sorry it has taken a while to get this chapter out, real life aka work has meant that I've had little time or inclination to write. Hopefully once the rush is over, probably around the middle of April things will settle down. Till then, I'll try to get things updated as soon as I can, but don't worry I will finish this story. On another note, the Latin used in this chapter came from Google so I'm not sure that it is correct, but let's hope it is. **

**Pariah**

**Chapter 4**

Sam had been dreading breakfast.

How could she sit across the table from Daniel and pretend that waking up in his arms hadn't left her in a tailspin?

She had fallen asleep the previous night with the steadfast intention of not allowing her fantasies to impinge upon reality, but somehow they had escaped their boundaries and had invaded her subconscious.

That had to be the only plausible explanation as to why she had woken up draped across his body, her legs entangled with his, her hand resting against his chest, the steady beat of his heart a flutter against her fingertips.

She had been reluctant to break the contact and an irrational part of her had wanted to stay that way until Daniel woke up, but if that had happened a whole lot of awkward and unwanted questions would have been posed, questions that she might not necessarily have had the answers to.

The previous night's mention of the bathtub had been a good excuse to put some distance between them and she had used the time to corral her wayward thoughts.

As she glanced at him from across the table, she realised that her earlier reservations had been unfounded because breakfast had turned out to be as normal as any that they had shared in the past. If he was aware that something inappropriate had happened between them, he wasn't showing it.

Sam decided that it was probably a good time to get things back on track.

"So, do you have a speech prepared?"

Daniel looked up from his plate of waffles and cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Why would I need to do that?"

"In case you win the award tonight. You can't just go up there and ad lib."

Placing his fork next to his half eaten waffles, he beckoned her to come a little closer with a crooked finger.

"The last time I stood in front of these people with a prepared speech, more than half of them left before I got to the bottom of the first page." He picked up his fork again and started to move pieces of waffle around his plate. "Besides, I have about as much chance of winning tonight as the Ori have of giving up their megalomaniacal ways."

"I still think that it would be a good idea to be prepared."

He shrugged his shoulders and took a sip from his coffee cup.

"Okay, I'll prepare a speech."

Pulling a menu toward him, he took out his pen and began to write on the back of it. A few minutes later he put the pen down with a flourish and pushed the menu toward her.

"There...done."

Sam eyed the menu dubiously, scrutinizing the strange squiggles that made up Daniel's unique form of shorthand, wondering how he could have possibly written an entire speech with only a few minutes thought.

"What's it say?"

Daniel picked up the menu and theatrically cleared his throat.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, esteemed guests and fellow nominees, it is with great humbleness that I accept this prestigious award. I know that in receiving it, I am being included within the ranks of some of the most renown and respected forebears of our profession. Giants in the field of Archaeology and Anthropology, men and women who have striven to make our field of academia respected within the highest echelons of science.

As many of you may know, my journey has been a long and painful one, but one that I now know I had to make in order to reach this point. For had I not made the errors that I had made and had my past theories not been vigorously challenged, I would have continued further down a path that would have ultimately lead to my exclusion from this hallowed and respected institution.

To all of those who tried to correct my path, to all of those who pointed out my erroneous ways , I have but one thing to say. _Basium meus ass_."

Sam inhaled the coffee that she had been sipping and promptly began to choke on it.

"I may not be a linguist..." she wheezed, "...but I know enough Latin to know that you just told them to 'kiss your ass.'"

"You asked for a speech... I gave you a speech."

Sam put down her coffee cup and rested her chin in the palm of her hand.

"Daniel, ten years ago the very people that are going to be in that room tonight tried very hard to ruin your life. They took something that was precious to you, something that you had spent a lot of time and effort researching and belittled it before you could even give them a proper explanation.

If it hadn't been for Catherine Langford, God's knows what would have happened to you or in which direction you would have turned. Ultimately, your theories were proven sound, and you went on to make one of world's most important discoveries, albeit one that has to remain a secret.

I know how much they hurt you, Daniel, and I can understand that you want to get even, but if you're going to do that then you've got to do it the right way."

She rose from her seat, brushing the crumbs from the croissant that she had had for breakfast off her sweater.

"Words are your stock in trade. I'm sure that you can come up with something that sounds eloquent enough to be an acceptance speech, but with enough subtle derogatory undertones to ensure that your nonconformist ideals remain intact." She picked up her key card from the table and slipped it in her pocket. "I've got to check in with Landry...try and keep yourself out of trouble."

Daniel waved the menu at her.

"I'll work on my speech."

She rolled her eyes at him, turned and walked away from the table.

As she reached the exit to the restaurant, she passed a group of men who were waiting to be seated. They were a rowdy bunch, led by one man in particular, whose baritone voice seemed to boom loudly within the confines of the restaurant.

Sam tried to side step her way around them, but unfortunately it was at the same time as their leader adjusted his position, inadvertently colliding with her, knocking her off balance.

A pair of strong, large hands grasped her shoulders to steady her.

"I'm sorry." A set of amazingly white teeth shone out from a deeply tanned face. "I hope you're alright?"

Sam smiled politely at him.

"I'm fine, no harm done."

"Are you sure ? I can be an oaf sometimes, all arms and legs." His lips turned up in a predatory smile, while his eyes gave her an uncomfortable leering once over. "Are you sure I couldn't buy you a cup of coffee?"

"No, thank you." Sam glanced at the hand still planted firmly on her shoulder. "If you don't mind... I have a phone call to make."

"Are you sure it couldn't wait? Buying you a coffee is the least I can do."

"Like I said, I'm fine." Sam sidestepped to her right, shrugging her shoulder in the process and succeeded in removing the unwanted hand.

"Perhaps you would care to join me after you make your phone call? I'll be in the restaurant." He slipped a well manicured hand through his hair and Sam caught sight of his wedding band. "Just ask for Doctor Adam Pritchard."

"It was nice to meet you, Doctor Pritchard." Sam lied.

"Likewise and I hope it won't be too long before we meet again?" Pritchard replied, his eyes sweeping across her upper body once more, letting her know with that look that he was very interested in getting to know her better.

"Doctor Pritchard," the waiter interrupted, "your table is ready now."

Pritchard gave her a soft nod of the head before rejoining his group and following the waiter through the restaurant.

Sam turned back toward the exit, but she had only taken a half dozen steps before she suddenly halted.

She had recognised that name.

It came to her in a flash, she had seen it on the letter that Daniel had received with the invitation. Doctor Adam Pritchard was one of the shortlisted five candidates for the Arthur Belmont award.

He was one of the euphemistically termed 'pack of hyenas' that Daniel had referred to with such loathing in his voice.

All thoughts of her phone call disappeared as Sam quickly turned around and made her way back inside the restaurant.

She had to warn Daniel.

However, her intention was thwarted before she had even had time to put it into practice. The waiter had taken Pritchard and his entourage past Daniel's table and the tanned archaeologist had done a quick double take before coming to a halt.

"Well... well... well.. so the rumours are true... the prodigal son has returned."

Daniel seemed to stiffen at the sound of the voice, looking up from the menu that he was still writing on.

"Hello, Adam, it's been a long time."

He smiled an unconvincing smile at Pritchard.

"Apparently it hasn't been long enough."

Daniel looked past Pritchard and caught sight of Sam. A flicker of something passed across his eyes, something that she couldn't quite decipher, a sadness perhaps or maybe embarrassment at being caught up in the present situation.

Instinctively she knew that trouble was brewing, but she wasn't sure how to deal with it, at least not without causing the kind of scene that they were trying to avoid. Nevertheless she had an overwhelming urge to get Daniel out of there, but as she took another step toward him, his infinitesimal shake of the head made her stop.

Instead she took up position at a nearby table where she could easily see and hear the conversation. Remit or not, if things turned ugly, she would intervene.

Pritchard sat down in the seat that Sam had recently vacated.

"I saw your inclusion on the final five shortlist. Of course I was hoping that it was some other unlucky bastard with the name of Jackson, but as it turns out there is only one whack job in this profession with that name." He brushed a hand across the tablecloth, smoothing it. "You've cost me a substantial amount of money, Daniel, because I bet a colleague of mine that you wouldn't have the nerve to show up, but here you are."

"Here I am." Daniel raised his coffee cup, taking a small sip of its contents. He replaced it back upon the saucer and looked at the man seated across from him. "I didn't come here looking for trouble, okay?"

Picking up his pen, he started to write again, but Pritchard's hand came down upon his, stilling his actions.

"Whether you seek it or not, trouble always seems to follow you around."

"I'm here for the ceremony, when it's over, I'll be gone."

"Gone where?" Pritchard seemed genuinely intrigued. "I've done a little research, trying to track down your whereabouts. You're a hard man to find, Daniel, there's little trace of where you've been and what you've been up to. At times it is as though you have disappeared off the face of the Earth. All I could find was a mention of a paper here, an unconfirmed sighting there, nothing substantial, but then again I don't suppose there is much work out there for a disgraced and delusional archaeologist."

"I get by."

"Really... by doing what? Who would want to employ a man that believes that the ancient Pyramids at Giza were created by a race of aliens?"

A few members of Pritchard's entourage sniggered at the comment, he seemed to take encouragement from the reaction, warming to his topic.

"In all seriousness, I think that you've been sharing a nice padded cell with your grandfather, that other notorious archaeologist and crackpot Nicholas Ballard."

"Leave Nick out of this, Adam."

"How can I? After all isn't that where you inherited your defective side. Even you have to admit that you have taken similar paths. Going from respected members of this community to laughing stocks based upon nothing more than outlandish theories regarding Crystal skulls and ancient aliens."

Sam watched Daniel shift uncomfortably in his chair, his eyes narrowing at the remark and knew that Pritchard had hit a particularly raw nerve. Even now, even after a chance reconciliation, her friend was still fragile regarding his relationship with his maternal grandfather.

Adam Pritchard seemed to know what buttons to press and Sam couldn't help wondering how far back this man went in Daniel's past. When she got the chance she was going to run a background check on him, it was good to know your enemy and she believed more than anything that this man was Daniel's enemy.

"I should be worried that you might pass on these defects to your own offspring," Pritchard continued, " but I see no wedding ring, no tan line to suggest that you once wore one." He made a show of running his fingers across his own wedding band, emphasising the difference between them. "Is there no woman with which you can share your momentous achievements, Daniel? Have they, like Sarah before them, abandoned you when they have learned of your tarnished reputation?"

"That's enough, Pritchard."

Instead of heeding Daniel's request, a smug smile tugged at the edges of the other man's mouth. "In a way it is a pity that those theories of yours couldn't be proven, for I fear that the only being that would want you as a mate is one of those aliens that you seem to covet so much."

A ripple of muffled laughter spread around the immediate area where they were sitting as more and more of the breakfast diners listened in on the conversation.

From her seat at the nearby table Sam could see the raw, emotional pain that suddenly engulfed Daniel's eyes at the insult that Pritchard had unknowingly inflicted upon Sha're's memory.

His anger quickly followed it.

Daniel roughly shrugged away the hand that was still pining his arm to the table. Rising abruptly from his chair, he sent it toppling over backward to land with a reverberating crash on the floor.

"You've had enough jokes at my expense."

Daniel made to leave, but Pritchard's hand reached out, grabbing a fistful of his sleeve, hurling him back around to face him.

Sam was halfway out of her seat before she could stop herself, but common sense overrode her inclination to help him. What could she do? She couldn't exactly go barging in there like an overzealous bodyguard, not without arousing even more suspicion.

Reluctantly she forced herself to sit back down.

"You still don't get it, do you?" Pritchard shook his head in obvious dismay. "You still don't understand that you're the joke and that you have been the past decade or more. When are you going to finally realise that you don't belong here?"

Daniel lowered his head toward the other man's.

"I belong here enough to have been nominated for an award."

"Oh yes... the award... and your inclusion on the shortlist, it's probably a mixture of curiosity and pity, take your pick. One thing is for sure, I'll see to it that you don't have a hope in hell of winning it. I'll canvas every member if I have to and remind them of the kind of unwanted publicity that follows you around, you'll have about as much chance of winning as you would of meeting those precious aliens of yours."

Daniel yanked his arm out of Pritchard's grip.

"I guess we'll find out tonight."

Daniel stormed from the table, pushing his way through Pritchard's entourage and strode out of the restaurant.

Worried about him, Sam rose out of her seat to follow, but stopped when she saw Pritchard turn to one of his aides.

"I believe that's a hundred dollars you owe me Price." The archaeologist got up from his seat, a satisfied grin spreading across his face. "You are clearly as delusional at Jackson. Whatever you thought you saw in the lobby last night was a figment of your imagination. I told you he wouldn't have a woman with him." The man named Price frantically searched his pockets and produced a crumpled hundred dollar bill, which Pritchard enthusiastically slipped into his own pocket. "I could have told you that only one woman has ever loved him and that poor unfortunate soul was his mother."

Pritchard spun on his heel and proceeded to his own table, his retinue in sycophantic pursuit.

Sam waited for them to get out of sight before she made her move and left the restaurant.

As she crossed the lobby she scanned the area for Daniel, but he was nowhere to be seen. More than likely he had headed back to their suite to lick his wounds and he probably wouldn't appreciate her company right now.

But she was worried about him.

She was also angry over what she had witnessed.

Daniel had never hidden the fact that he was estranged from the archaeological community, but she had never realised just how unwelcome he had become. She now understood why he had been so vigorous in his argument with Landry about not attending.

A part of her wished that he had won it because she hated seeing him going through something like this.

As for Pritchard... he was an arrogant asshole with a vindictive streak a mile wide. He seemed to know all the right buttons to press and he had no compunction when it came to pressing them.

What she wouldn't give to knock him down a peg or two.

As she retraced her steps back to the elevator, she passed through a small shopping mall. Like everything else in the hotel it was full of boutiques that were classy, but expensive.

She stopped in front of one in particular and gazed inside.

Pritchard's scathing remarks about Daniel's lack of a woman in his life replayed in her head.

Upstairs she had already unpacked the dress that she had intended to wear for the formal awards dinner. It was a black evening gown, one that she had worn occasionally to military functions. It was modest and not too revealing, perfect for that night's event.

When Pritchard saw her on Daniel's arm he would have to repay that hundred dollars that he had so enthusiastically taken from his associate.

But somehow that didn't seem enough, not for all the spiteful things that he had said about Daniel.

Without even realising what she had done, she found that she had crossed from the lobby into the shop. The sales assistant, ever vigilant for signs of a sale walked over to her.

"Can I help you?"

"Are any of these dresses available for hire?"

The sales assistant's face went from hopeful to crestfallen as the idea of a nice commission evaporated.

"This way, we have a small collection that you can look through."

She led Sam to the back of the shop.

"What kind of a statement are you trying to make?" The assistant turned and looked at her. "For instance, we get a lot of customers in here that buy a dress for the sole purpose of making their husbands or boyfriends jealous, as a way of getting their relationship back on track."

"I don't want to make the man I'm with jealous."

"Then what do you want to do?"

Sam thought about it for a while and a slow smile bloomed across her lips.

"I want to make every man in the room tonight jealous of the man I'm with."

The sales assistant nodded in understanding.

"Then I think I have exactly what you need."

She turned and disappeared back toward the front of the boutique, returning a moment later with a dress draped carefully over her arm.

She held it up for Sam to see.

Sam's eyes widened at the sight of the dress and she found herself nodding in appreciation. That would definitely underscore the statement she intended to make.

"Oh, yeah...I'll take it."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N Here's the next part... because you have been so good and patient. Hope you like it and Happy Easter to everyone!**

**Pariah**

**Chapter 5**

Daniel hated having to wear a tuxedo, instead of making him look suave and sophisticated, he always ended up looking like one of the waiters.

Worse than the tux was the idea of having to wear a bow tie. The damn things never tied up properly and no matter how hard you tried, they always ended up looking off kilter.

He tugged at the tiny scrap of material with increasing annoyance, trying to straighten it, but all he succeeded in doing was to make it look more askew than ever. He tugged a little harder, but his thumb and forefinger pulled too harshly at one of the edges and the whole thing just unravelled.

He pulled his fingers away and stared at the piece of black silk that now hung limply around his collar.

Well that was a waste of fifteen minutes he would never get back.

"Sam...are you any good with bow ties?"

"Why don't you try tying it with your eyes closed."

"Is that a joke?"

"No, it's a tried and tested theory."

"Tried and tested by who?"

"My dad."

Well if it had been good enough for Jacob...

Daniel looked in the mirror then closed his eyes, he felt for the two pieces of shiny silk and brought them together, trying not to consciously think about what he was trying to do, letting his instincts take over. When he was finished he opened his eyes and found that he had tied it almost perfectly and it was only a tad off centre.

"Well...wadda ya know."

"Told you it would work."

He turned from the mirror in the hallway and looked toward the bedroom that he had been unceremoniously banished from. Sam had been in there for over an hour with no sign of her coming out any time soon. Daniel wondered what the hell she could be doing in there.

She had been playing her cards close to her chest ever since she had turned up earlier that day. She had been carrying something that she obviously hadn't wanted Daniel to see, secreting it away inside the walk in closet. When he had questioned her about it she had been uncharacteristically cagey.

It had peaked his curiosity.

He padded over to the half open door and rapped softly upon it.

"Are you nearly ready, the dinner is scheduled to start in twenty minutes?"

He tried to peek inside the bedroom to get a glimpse of whatever it was that she had been so secretive about, but it turned out to be not very fruitful, since she wasn't in his line of sight.

"I still have a couple of things to do, why don't you go down to the bar in the lobby and wait for me."

He'd rather not, especially as he was likely to run into Pritchard and his cronies again and that prospect didn't sit too comfortably with him.

Memories of that morning's humiliating encounter washed across his mind, serving to only intensify the dread that he was feeling about the coming evening, an evening that he knew would bring much worse. However, this time he knew that there would be nothing he could do to spare Sam from being associated with it.

When he had seen her standing behind Pritchard, he had known that she had wanted to help him, to protect him in the same way that she did on a daily basis off world and on. It had been so clear to see in her eyes, eyes that he had learned a long time ago to accurately read, but he had turned her assistance away, preferring to take the humiliation and the shame upon himself, as he had always done.

Tonight he wouldn't have that luxury and even if he did, he didn't think for one moment that Sam would let him get away with it again. No matter how much he wanted to spare her the pain of having to bear witness to the relentless onslaught that he knew would befall him, he knew with even more clarity that she would insist on being at his side.

Shoulder to shoulder, facing the foe.

Together.

As they always had.

Knowing that he had some time to kill until Sam was ready, he crossed from the hallway and enter the spacious lounge. Picking up the remote for the plasma television he clicked it on and idly began surfing the channels, but there was nothing that caught his attention.

Switching it off, he gaze fell instead toward the large picture window that looked out on the ocean. As last night, there was a beautiful sunset glowing through the large expanse of glass, the sky an artist's palette of oranges, reds and pink.

He felt drawn toward it as Sam had been the night before.

He was at the glass door before he even realised that he had moved, sliding it open and stepping out onto the balcony beyond. Immediately he felt the tug of fear as his vertigo warred with his mind and body, but he forced the irrational emotion away and stepped slowly, but cautiously toward the far railing.

It was still quite warm out and he was glad that he hadn't yet put on his dinner jacket. The warm evening breeze tugged at his shirt, causing the fabric to ripple across his chest and lower arms, a sensation that felt more comforting than unpleasant. He settled his hands upon the solidness of the railing and took a deep lung filling breath of tropical scented air.

He felt some of the coiled up tension inside him ease, as though they had been scooped up upon the air currents and carried out to sea. Remembering Sam's words from the previous night, he fixed his focus upon the far horizon and let his eyes take in the spectacle of the magnificent sunset.

As he stood there, his thoughts turned toward the instigator of all his troubles thus far.

Pritchard.

The man that he had known since college.

Pritchard was old money, born and bred to a wealthy New England family that had been known to rub shoulders with the Kennedy's. It had given Adam all the kudos he needed during his first few weeks at college and willing acolytes had flocked to his standard. From that moment on, he had never looked back, his dashing good looks and wealth enough to ensure that he became the most popular person on campus.

It hadn't taken long for him to take a serious dislike to Daniel, with whom he had shared many classes.

Unlike Pritchard, Daniel had never been one to immerse himself in the usual campus party circuit, preferring instead to use his spare time to hone his skills and perfect his analytical techniques. As a result he had excelled at his studies, even exceeding the expectations of his professors.

That in itself had galled his fellow student.

In Pritchard's eyes, a man who didn't want to party, who didn't want to lose himself in alcohol and the lustful pursuits of the many, attractive and often available, women on campus, wasn't truly a man at all.

It was one of the many jibes that Daniel had learned to endure during their time together.

Apparently, those jibes regarding his manhood were still pertinent today, given the fact that his nemesis had used them to such good effect that morning.

During their senior year, a rumour had spread rampantly around the college that Pritchard was on the verge of failing his course and was in imminent danger of being kicked out, but somehow it all got hushed up, swept under the carpet, and he had miraculously passed.

Strangely the college had been donated a large sum of money that year from an anonymous benefactor.

The next time Daniel had crossed paths with Pritchard was when they were both about to be awarded their doctorates in Archaeology. By then Sarah had come onto the scene and seeing that Daniel seemed to be happy and reasonably settled, Pritchard had set out to steal her away from him.

To her credit, Sarah refused all of his many advances, but later, after they had broken up, he had learned that for a short time Pritchard had dated her.

Adam had never followed the expected path of an archaeologist and Daniel was pretty certain that he had never really put any of the skills that he had been taught into practice. He had never run into him on any of the usual and well sought after dig sites. He had never encountered him on any of the many expeditions that he had been a part of. His name wasn't that well known amongst the many international archaeologist's that Daniel had met, but it hadn't stopped him from obtaining a fellowship with the lofty Society of Archaeologists.

His lack of practical credentials hadn't stopped him from steadily rising up through its ranks until he became an important and powerful player in the inner echelons of the archaeological community.

When Daniel had first set out his ideas regarding his theories about the ancient pyramids, it had been Pritchard that had shouted the loudest and with the most vehement criticism. It had been Pritchard that had led the heckling and ultimately the mass walk out during his lecture.

There was no doubt in Daniel's mind that it had probably been Pritchard who had instigated his loss of research funding, which had inevitably led to him losing everything else.

And here he was again, like a particularly nasty boil that refused to burst.

"Daniel, are you okay?"

The soft, concerned tone of Sam's voice broke him from his thoughts. He turned toward her with every intention of telling her that he was perfectly fine, but upon laying eyes on her, he found that his ability to speak had suddenly deserted him.

Then again, that might have had something to do with the fact that his breath had taken that exact moment to leave his lungs in a hurried rush.

Sam was standing before him in a floor length crimson gown, with thin spaghetti straps at the shoulder. Its bodice was sculpted to emphasise the fullness of her breasts and it was cut so low that he could see the pale white mounds rise and fall with every soft breath that she took.

To say that it was figure hugging would have been a gross understatement, for it looked as though she had been poured into it, the tight shimmering material hugging her body as though it were a second skin, accentuating every feminine curve that she possessed.

Her hair was also different, the normal short cropped military style now looked more voluminous. As the last rays of the setting sun caught it, it seemed to glow like burnished gold, framing her face within a golden halo.

Daniel couldn't seem to stop his eyes from trailing across the entire length of her body again, unashamedly drinking in her beauty, immersing himself in the more than pleasurable sight of his best friend revealed to him in this new and provocative way.

When he was finally able to draw his attention back to her face, it was to find himself being thoroughly scrutinised by a pair of astounding blue eyes. Their hue now matched the ocean that he had just been studying and he felt himself being dragged away by the undercurrent that he could see in their depths.

For a long moment they stood in silence staring at each other, then Sam's lips curved into a wry smile.

"I think that's the first time I've seen you speechless."

"That's because you've taken my breath away."

"I have?"

"Uh huh."

Sam looked down at herself , a sceptical frown creasing her brow, then she looked back at him.

"It isn't too much?"

Daniel let his eyes wander across her body again, more slowly this time, more deliberately, letting her see through his actions just what kind of effect she was having on him.

"You look beautiful, Sam."

Her eyes widened at his remark, her cheeks flushing slightly at what he assumed was the unexpected compliment.

"The dress... it's like a living flame."

They continued to stare at each other for another long drawn out moment. It was Sam that finally broke it, her eyes leaving his to glance down at her watch.

"We better get a move on, dinner starts in ten minutes."

But Daniel didn't want to go to dinner anymore.

At that moment what he wanted to do more than anything else was to take Sam in his arms and thoroughly kiss her. Then he wanted to lead her back into the bedroom, peel her out of that wonderfully sexy dress and carry her to that inviting four poster bed. There he wanted to spend the rest of the night slowly making love to her, hearing her voice catch on his name as she came apart around him over and over again.

But he knew that those thoughts were as wishful and unattainable as the ones that he had been thinking that morning when he had awoken with her in his arms.

Just because he wanted it, didn't mean that it was likely to happen.

From her reaction that morning, it was evident that Sam didn't feel that way toward him. Otherwise she would never have moved away from him, she would never have reinstated that distance between them in the bed.

Reluctantly, he forced those thoughts from his mind. He nodded toward her and made his way back toward the living room. Inside he gathered his dinner jacket and slipped it on, pocketing their key cards and waited for Sam by the elevator while she locked the door to the balcony.

"Daniel, wait a minute."

She stepped up to him and with her closeness he could make out the scent of her perfume. Her hands went to his bow tie and he felt her adjust it slightly, making sure that it was no longer off centre. When she was finished she smoothed her hands across the shoulders of his dinner jacket, letting them glide smoothly down his arms.

She took his hands in hers and gently laced her fingers through his, squeezing them softly.

"I may not get another chance to say this... good luck tonight, Daniel."

She pushed herself up on her toes to shorten the slight height difference and softly kissed him on the corner of his mouth, her lips lingering there for a second or two before she stepped away.

She tenderly smoothed the smudge of her lipstick away with her thumb.

Those earlier thoughts reformed in his head with a vengeance and he had to force himself not to pull her back toward him, not to take her lips with his and devour her whole. He swallowed hard and tried to get his wayward emotions under some kind of control.

He smiled at her.

"Thanks, Sam."

He turned away and busied himself with calling the elevator. The car arrived almost immediately, the doors opening smoothly upon their well oiled runners.

He motioned her inside and she thanked him with a soft smile, stepping in front of him and entering the car. His eyes were drawn to the area of exposed pale skin on her back. If he thought that the neckline of her dress had been low, it was nothing compared to the back of the dress which plunged so low that it barely covered her backside. He tore his eyes away from her ass and focused them instead upon the smattering of freckles that adorned her back.

His mind was overpowered by the image of him tracing the line of those freckles with the tip of his tongue.

He swallowed hard.

Heaven almighty.

Quickly stepping into the elevator, he slipped his key card into the floor panel and hit the button for the lobby.

He watched the numbers flash on and off, trying to keep his eyes fixed on those lighted digits and his thoughts well away from the woman that was standing next to him.

As the elevator reached the lobby and the doors opened, Daniel's thoughts were not on how he was going to survive an evening in the company of his detractors, but how he was going to survive it being so close to Sam.

Being close, but not being able to touch her.

It was going to be torture.


	6. Chapter 6

**Pariah**

**Chapter 6**

**A/N Sorry for the very long time that it has taken for me to update this story. Unfortunately real life, in its guise of work, has resulted in my not having much time to dedicate to writing. I will try my best to update when I can, but I can't promise anything other than I will finish this story. **

Sam had to admit that it looked like the dress was a resounding success.

Judging by the envious looks that Daniel was getting, it was also having the effect that she'd been hoping for.

She was glad that she hadn't given in to her earlier moment of indecision.

Back in the bedroom, she had spent an inordinate amount of time just staring at herself in the mirror, questioning the sanity of what she was contemplating. There had even been a point where she had almost changed out of the dress into the more conventional one that she had brought with her.

Only the memory of Pritchard's cruel jibes had stopped her.

Sam knew that it wouldn't be enough to have Pritchard merely eat his words, nor would it be enough to know that once she was seen on Daniel's arm, he would have to pay back the bet he had won from his lackey.

No.

None of those things would make amends for all the hurtful things Pritchard had said to Daniel, both to his face and behind his back.

What Sam wanted was to wipe that arrogant look off of Pritchard's face once and for all and no simple black dress was going to accomplish that.

However, she hadn't bargained on the look that Daniel had given her out on the balcony.

That had danger written all over it.

In big neon letters.

She was still reeling from its effect.

One long, scorching look had been enough to turn her world completely upside down, figuratively stripping away every last defence that she had, leaving her feeling totally naked to his gaze.

Seeing his desire for her had triggered within her a corresponding response, one that she had not been able to hide from him.

In that instant something had changed between them, something on a visceral level.

It would have been so easy to have succumbed to the pull, to the thrum of arousal that had hung in the air between them, easy for her to have crossed those few short steps and allowed herself to be swept up in the moment, to indulge herself in the taste of his mouth, the feel of his arms around her.

Easy and disastrous at the same time.

Instead she had forced herself back from the brink, willed herself to stand exactly where she was until thankfully the heated moment between them had passed.

At least for the time being.

"Sam, are you okay?"

The note of concern in Daniel's voice broke her from her thoughts, she looked around in confusion, realising that she had stopped in the middle of the crowded lobby. Daniel was watching her with a worried frown creasing his brow.

"You know... if you're not feeling well.."

She shook her head.

"I'm fine, just zoned out there for a second."

He didn't look convinced, in fact he looked like he was about to suggest that they forget the whole thing and go back to the suite.

Which wouldn't be a good idea given the direction that her thoughts were going in.

Damn.

Mentally she chastised herself for getting distracted. If she was going to be of any use to Daniel tonight, she had to keep focused on the evening ahead.

And Pritchard in particular.

"I'm feeling fine." She took his hand in hers and began to lead them through the crowd of diners. "Besides, I didn't get all dressed up for nothing."

They stopped at the entrance to the restaurant in order to study the seating plan that had been set up outside.

Daniel's despondent groan caused her to look at him.

"I can't believe that they've seated all the nominees together?"

"I guess it makes a kind of sense, having everyone in one place." Although she was trying to make Daniel feel better, she wasn't exactly looking forward to being in such close proximity to Pritchard herself.

"Sam, this isn't going to be pretty. What you witnessed this morning is nothing compared with what is going to happen tonight. Pritchard is going to make the most of any chance he has to ridicule me and there will be nothing I can do to stop him."

"I know."

"He'll be on a personal vendetta, to humiliate me in front of the other nominees, to remind them of what I represent. You're going to hear things... he's going to say things that..."

She stopped him with a finger against his lips.

"I don't care what I hear because I know the truth, Daniel, and it's a truth that they can never take away from you." Staring into his eyes, she willed him to accept the truth of her words, wanting him to know that no matter what happened she would be there for him as she always had been and as she always would be. "For the last ten years we've lived that truth, side by side, witnessing some of the most incredible things that the universe has to offer. Without you, Daniel, none of that would have been possible."

She stepped closer to him, raising her hands until she softly cupped his face between them.

"There is also one important thing that you're forgetting?"

"What's that?"

"Tonight, Daniel, I've got your back."

Instead of her words breaking the tension that she saw in his eyes, they seemed to intensify it instead. His demeanour turned serious.

"Whatever you do... don't underestimate him, Sam. He has a way of twisting people's words to suit his agenda. He's dangerous... especially if he's given an opening."

"Duly noted." Her hands dropped away from his face. "Now... are you ready?"

He nodded solemnly.

"Then let's do this."

Daniel gestured her forward.

As she stepped in front of him, she felt his hand settle against the small of her back. It was meant as nothing more than a means in which to guide her through the restaurant, but its unexpected arrival, combined with the fact that it was upon her exposed flesh sent a warm tingle of pleasure cascading through her nerve endings.

Sam briefly closed her eyes against the sensation, trying to reel in the thoughts that suddenly permeated her mind. When she opened them again, she tried to ignore how good it felt to have his skin touching hers and concentrated on trying to find their table.

Pritchard was already holding court, surrounded by his ever present posse of doting acolytes. As they neared the table Sam could see a steady stream of diners pausing to talk with him, some laughing at some inane comment that he made, others politely smiling. It was obvious that he knew how to work a room and all the sycophantic fawning reminded her of a certain politician that she and the rest of SG-1 had had the displeasure of encountering from time to time.

It was even possible that Senator Kinsey could have picked up a trick or two from this guy.

Pritchard's retinue began to move away, leaving him in the company of an attractive blonde who seemed to be giving the archaeologist her undivided and somewhat flirtatious attention. A glance at her left hand confirmed that she wasn't Pritchard's wife, but her familiarity with him was evidence enough to suggest that she was his mistress.

Sam found herself reassessing him, if he was comfortable enough to bring his mistress to such a prestigious event, then it was because he didn't fear his indiscretion being revealed.

As she continued to watch him, he turned his attention away from the woman at his side and began to scrutinise his fellow nominees. The look on his face told her that he didn't feel particularly threatened by any of them.

As though realising that he himself was being scrutinised he looked up. His eyes widened in surprise as he recognised her, his smile turning more predatory as his gaze swept across the length of her body, eyes darkening in unmasked appreciation.

She watched his face flush, his pupils dilate and knew that for the second time that evening she was witnessing a man's desire for her.

Whereas Daniel's reaction had been a welcome and pleasurable experience, she found Pritchard's to be repellent.

"Evening, Adam."

Beside her, Daniel held out his hand in polite greeting.

If it had been anatomically possible, Pritchard's jaw would have hit the table.

Daniel stood with his hand extended for a few moments longer, but when it was evident that Pritchard was loathe to reciprocate, he moved it away and turned his attention to pulling out Sam's chair so that she could take her seat at the table.

"Thank you, Daniel."

"You're more than welcome."

When she was comfortably settled, he pulled out his own chair and sat down next to her.

"Well I have to hand it to you, Jackson, that's twice in one day that you've managed to surprise me." Pritchard picked up his brandy glass and took a small sip. "I was certain that you wouldn't turn up, but here you are and with a very nice surprise to boot." His gaze settled briefly upon Daniel before it returned to unashamedly leer at Sam. "Aren't you going to introduce us?"

"I believe you've already met."

When Sam had returned to the suite earlier that day, she had decided to come clean about meeting Pritchard in the lobby. Knowing that they would probably interact at some point that evening, she had thought it wise to give Daniel a heads up so that he wasn't caught off guard.

Pritchard's lips turned up into a half smile.

"That is true, but your beautiful companion has me at an unfair disadvantage, for I was quite forthcoming with my name, but she insisted in shrouding herself in mystery."

"I believe that is a woman's prerogative."

There was a note of restrained anger in Daniel's voice, as though this was a game that he had played with Pritchard before. Sam wondered just when that had occurred and who the woman was that Daniel had been with at the time. It was obvious that for her friend it was an unhappy recollection, possibly one that Pritchard had dredged up on purpose to unsettle him. The two men continued to stare at one another and for a moment Sam was certain that Daniel was going to ignore Pritchard's request, but then he turned away from his nemesis to face her.

"Doctor Samantha Carter," he gestured with his hand in Pritchard's direction, "this is Doctor Adam Pritchard, chair of the society of archaeologists."

"Doctor Carter?" The surprise that she had witnessed when he had first seen her was now mirrored in the tone of his voice. "How rare to find both intelligence and beauty bound together in the same package." He looked toward the woman that sat next to him. "I often find that one has to be content with finding either one or the other within the fairer sex, but it would appear that you are the exception to that rule."

Sam would have to add 'chauvinist' to the long list of words that she was compiling in her head to describe the man seated across from her. Ignoring his barbed comment, she forced herself to smile sweetly at him.

"I assure you, Doctor Pritchard, I am not one of a kind. There are many more of us out there, may I therefore suggest that it is you that is looking in the wrong place."

Pritchard raised his brandy glass in her direction in a mock salute.

"Touché, my dear." He lazily swirled the contents around the glass. "So, in what field would that hard earned doctorate be in...I do so hope that it is psychiatry?"

He looked pointedly at Daniel.

Sam bristled at the insinuation behind his remark and the way that it had been used as a cheap shot against her friend.

She was beginning to tire of his jibes.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Doctor Pritchard, but my doctorate is not in psychiatry. Although if it were, I believe that it would be your mind that I would be studying, not Daniel's."

Pritchard's eyes narrowed at her remark.

"Then what is your doctorate in?"

"Astrophysics."

Pritchard's eyebrows rose sharply, his astonishment at her revelation clearly outweighing his annoyance at her earlier derogatory remark. As he pondered this new titbit of information his countenance changed, becoming more calculated and something malicious sparked within his eyes.

"A doctor of astrophysics... how very apt considering Daniel's penchant for all things cosmic." He leant forward in his seat. "You know, it's a pity that you didn't join me for that coffee this morning, I think that your input would have been a welcome addition to our conversation... wouldn't you agree, Daniel?"

Thankfully Daniel wasn't forced into an answer because at that moment a waiter arrived at their table.

"Can I get you both something to drink?"

"Could I have a white wine spritzer?" Sam asked.

"Of course," the waiter turned his attention to Daniel, "and for you sir?"

Daniel hesitated as he considered his options.

"Double scotch on the rocks."

Sam was surprised by Daniel's order. He rarely drank anything stronger than beer and even then it only took a couple of bottles for him to become inebriated. He couldn't really hold his liquor and she knew that he didn't like the way that it affected him, the way it dulled his mind and slowed down his thought processes.

Was he really dreading the evening that much?

Concerned, she leaned toward him, wanting to make sure that he was alright.

"Are you okay?"

Daniel glanced toward Pritchard, who was now deep in conversation with the blonde at his side.

"I thought I might need a little anaesthetic."

Sam followed his gaze and nodded in understanding.

The waiter arrived back at the table with their drinks, placing them carefully upon paper napkins before moving off to serve his next customer.

Sam picked up her glass and motioned for Daniel to do the same.

"Here's to anaesthesia, although I'm starting to think that for it to work properly we might have to up the dosage."

"I'll drink to that, Sam."

He clinked his glass against hers and swallowed a mouthful of the dark liquid. Sam watched as he fought the instinct to cough, his eyes tearing against the alcoholic burn.

Sam couldn't shake the feeling that something was bothering him, but for once his face wasn't that easy to read. All that she knew was that it had something to do with Pritchard.

She looked away wondering how she could somehow make things a little easier for him, to somehow make this unendurable evening amongst his most fervent enemies a little more bearable.

She could feel the weight of Pritchard's stare upon her and when she looked in his direction she found him watching her with an inscrutable smile upon his lips.

He was plotting something and she couldn't shake the feeling that it had something to do with her.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N I'd like to thank all the people that left such wonderful reviews. It's nice to know that a work is appreciated and when writing time is tight, it is nice to receive such great encouragement. It obviously worked because here is the next chapter. :-)**

**Enjoy!**

**Pariah**

**Chapter 7**

The first course came and went in relative silence, the waiters removing the plates and replenishing their drinks. Small conversations broke out amongst the other nominees and their guests, but to Daniel's relief Pritchard turned his attention toward his blonde guest and left him and Sam alone.

It hadn't eased the edginess that he was feeling.

He had noticed the looks that Pritchard had been giving Sam, seen the way his lecherous eyes had lit up when he had seen her. It was the same look that he had given Sarah, the same look that forewarned that Pritchard was contemplating stealing something that didn't belong to him.

Except in this instance Sam didn't belong to Daniel either.

He knew that it shouldn't really bother him. Sam was a grown woman and she was more than capable of looking after herself.

But it did bother him; in fact it bothered him a lot.

More than it should.

He wasn't stupid, he knew perfectly well what was happening, the trouble was knowing what was happening wasn't exactly helping him to marshal his thoughts and lock them away where they belonged.

Something inside of him had irrevocably altered, changed by the mere fact that he had awakened that morning with Sam in his arms.

There was a part of him that knew that there was no going back, that there was no way that he could lock away the feelings and longings that those few precious moments had unleashed. There was a steadily increasing part of him that wanted nothing more than to act upon those feelings, a reckless part that wanted to risk their friendship in the hope that maybe they could have something more.

Of course matters weren't helped by the way that she looked tonight and he hadn't been blind to the envious stares that he had been getting from some of the other guests. As much as it bolstered his ego to have them think that he and Sam were together, it made the line between reality and fantasy that much harder to define.

He had to keep remembering that Sam was his friend.

Nothing more.

No matter how much he wished otherwise.

A passing waiter placed his main course in front of him. Daniel picked up his fork and speared a piece of broccoli.

"Tell me... was going ahead with that ridiculous theory of yours worth it?"

Daniel looked away from his plate of food to find Pritchard watching him.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because I've often wondered why you went ahead with something that any sane man could have seen was professional suicide."

"Then I'll sum it up for you in one word, Adam... belief."

Pritchard's laugh was loud enough to be heard by some of the other diners. A few heads turned in reaction to it, their gazes settling upon Daniel's table.

"If you ask me, it was a misguided belief, one that has resulted in you losing everything meaningful. You have spent the last ten years an outcast, shunned by the archaeological community both at home and abroad. Your once stellar career now lies in ruins and all because of a whim."

"Perhaps if you had given me the platform that I had asked for I could have convinced you and the other members of the society that my theory was based upon solid foundations."

"Oh please..." Pritchard waved a dismissive hand in Daniel's direction, "those so called foundations were as shaky as hell and you know it."

Daniel set his fork down on his plate, his hunger having deserted him. "I spent five years researching my hypothesis, calculating the evidence, testing it again and again until I was certain that I was right. I had it all mapped out, every facet catalogued. Perhaps if you had bothered to stick around, instead of leading the mass walk out, you would have seen that everything that we thought we knew about the pyramids was wrong."

"Are you saying that you still believe in that preposterous notion?" Pritchard looked genuinely surprised.

"I believe it more strongly now than I ever have."

"Let me get this straight... after all this time, you're still willing to stand by your theory."

"Yes I am."

"Without even an iota of doubt over its credibility?"

"Yes."

Pritchard sat back in his seat, an incredulous look spreading across his face. Picking up his brandy glass, he took a slow sip of its contents, his brow furrowed in thought.

"Would you be willing to put your theory to the test, Daniel?"

"That's all I ever wanted."

The rest of the contents of the brandy glass disappeared in one long gulp before Pritchard replaced it on the table with a loud thud. He beckoned a waiter over to refill it.

"Well there's no time like the present, let's put your untried and relatively untested theory up against some hard, scientific fact, shall we?"

Pritchard's unexpected announcement got Daniel's full attention, for it had been the last thing that he had expected.

"What's the catch, Adam, because if you're only doing this as a means of ridiculing me, then I'm not interested."

"There's no catch, I'm just giving you the opportunity that was denied you ten years ago. Around this table are some of the society's most emanate fellows, you couldn't have a more captive audience."

Daniel carefully considered his words.

"You expect me to provide a convincing argument, here and now, without the aid of my research materials?"

"You've been living with this theory for the past ten years, you must be intimately acquainted with it. I trust that you can make a valid case based upon your observations."

Daniel was torn, on the one hand this was almost too good to be true, a chance, after all these years to put forth his idea. However, he didn't trust Pritchard, for he never did anything without there being an ulterior motive.

"Why the reticence?" Pritchard's voice had taken on a slightly mocking tone. "Didn't you say that your theory could stand being tested? Perhaps now when the time comes you fear that it might not be as cast iron as you had previously led us to believe?"

"The theory is sound."

"Then make your case."

Daniel still felt a little reluctant, and he couldn't quite shake the feeling that there was more behind Pritchard's motives than met the eye, but in the end, the idea of possible vindication won the internal battle.

"Ancient Egyptian civilization didn't follow the normal patterns of a developing culture. It appears to come into existence with all its sciences, art and mathematics intact. Similarly, the same could be said about its written language. Nobody can give a satisfactory explanation as to where hieroglyphs came from, they don't conform to what we know about the natural evolution of the written word in the ancient world. My question has always been why?"

Pritchard took a sip from his refilled brandy glass.

"I assume that you have a theory?"

Daniel nodded.

"I believe that it was a legacy, a legacy brought to this planet from the stars."

A loud murmur of discord reverberated around the table.

"Your alien theory?" Pritchard's lips raised in a sardonic half smile. "The same theory that purports to have us believe that the Pyramids at Giza are not one of the most incredible endeavours of human engineering, but merely a landing platform for alien spaceships?"

"Yes."

"But can't you see how utterly preposterous that idea is?"

"I don't contest that the pyramids were an amazing feat of human engineering, for I have no doubt that humans were involved in their construction, what I'm challenging is their purpose. It is my belief that the pyramids were not built to house the remains of a Pharaoh."

"Even though we have archaeological proof showing that was indeed the case, solid academic evidence that proves that they were elaborate burial sites."

"Maybe later," Daniel conceded, "maybe they were used for that purpose by a later dynasty, but that was never their original intent. Their original intent was to act as an anchorage for ships from another world, ships that were also pyramidal in design."

Daniel glanced toward Sam, whose eyes told him no uncertain terms that she didn't like the direction in which the conversation was going, it was getting a tad too close to the truth for comfort.

"I take it that you have evidence of this?" Pritchard asked, sitting forward in his seat, "Irrefutable proof?"

"I do."

Pritchard stared at him for a long, drawn out moment before turning his lips up in a self satisfying smirk.

"I believe that there is someone in this room tonight that can provide irrefutable proof to the contrary?"

"Who?"

Up until that point, Pritchard had been staring intently at Daniel, but now he switched his gaze toward Sam.

"Doctor Carter, given your chosen field of expertise, can I assume that you do not share Doctor Jackson's views with regard to the existence of alien life?"

Daniel suddenly felt as if the ground had toppled away beneath him, leaving him teetering on the edge of a fathomless abyss.

This had been what Pritchard had been planning all along.

Using the possibility of vindication as the bait, Pritchard had cleverly manoeuvred him to this point, leading him as surely as if he were a sacrificial goat being led to the altar.

He had cunningly set his trap and Daniel had walked straight into it.

Although Sam's face showed no outward sign of emotion, Daniel was sure that inside she was silently kicking herself for having told Pritchard that she was an astrophysicist.

"Doctor Carter, do you have an opinion?"

Sam took a slow sip of her wine before answering.

"Given the vastness of the universe... I think that it would be extremely arrogant of us to assume that we are the only intelligent life form inhabiting it."

Pritchard's face broke into a wide grin as though he had been expecting her to put forth that particular argument.

"Nicely dodged my dear, so let me put it another way. Do you have any proof that intelligent life exists anywhere in the universe and if it does, is it plausible that an alien race could have travelled to our planet as Daniel has suggested?" He pushed his meal to one side to make room to rest his elbows on the table. "After all isn't that what you do? Don't you spend your time looking out into space searching for aliens?"

To all the diners at the table, Sam looked composed and relaxed, only Daniel noticed the faint hint of annoyance that manifested itself in the slight flushing of her face.

"No, Doctor Pritchard, I don't stare out into space looking for aliens. I deal with the physical nature of the universe and I try to make sense of our place within it."

Again Pritchard graced her with a grin.

"That was a very passionate defence of your profession, but you're still avoiding my question. In making sense of our place within the universe don't you use the latest technology to look into the furthest reaches of space? Surely then, if any intelligent life existed... you, or one of your many colleagues, would have encountered it along the way. Isn't that so?"

As much as Daniel disliked Pritchard, he had to grudgingly admire the way in which he could outmanoeuvre his opponents.

With a few shrewd words Sam had been backed into a corner, with no means of getting out.

The existence of aliens was as closely a guarded secret as that of the Stargate. There was no way that Sam could even suggest that aliens might exist without breaking the rules that governed their continued secrecy.

Daniel's fate was sealed.

In order to keep the secret, Sam would have to knowingly betray him.

Pursing her lips she looked toward him, her face a mask of indecision. Daniel knew that as his friend she wanted to be able to give him her support, but as a military officer it was her duty to follow the orders that she had been given.

Even if by doing so she would be perpetrating a lie.

"Doctor Carter?"

Pritchard's voice sounded insistent, he wasn't going to let it go.

In the depths of her eyes, Daniel could see just how sorry she was for what she was about to do.

"I'd have to say that to date, based on the scientific facts that we have available, there is no evidence that alludes to the existence of intelligent life beyond our planet."

Pritchard rocked back into his seat, a smug smile blooming across his face. He snagged out a hand and plucked up his brandy glass, disposing of the last of its contents in one languid gulp.

"Ladies and Gentlemen...there we have it... from an expert in the field." Pritchard turned his attention back toward Daniel, the smugness intensifying as he drew out his victory. "So Daniel... how does it feel to know that not even your girlfriend is prepared to back up your crazy theories?"

"Sam's not..." Daniel began.

"...willing to entirely rule out the possibility." Sam finished, cutting off the rest of what Daniel had been about to say. He glanced at her, wondering why she had stopped him from correcting Pritchard on his assumption that they were a couple, but she quickly looked away, focusing her attention instead toward the other archaeologist. "We've only mapped an infinitesimal part of the cosmos, there could yet be planets out there with alien life that we haven't discovered yet."

"My dear, I'm sure that you feel that you have to defend Daniel, and I applaud you on your loyalty, but you shouldn't prostitute your principles to uphold something that everyone in this room knows to be completely ludicrous."

Tilting her head up in a defiant gesture, Sam sent a piercing glare in Pritchard's direction.

"I'm not the one prostituting my principles, Doctor Pritchard. You seem to be on a one man vendetta to debunk Daniel's theory... to the point where I fear you would use any means at your disposal."

Daniel noted that Pritchard seemed to be enjoying his little sparring match with Sam.

Her continued defiant stance was making him all the more determined to win.

"I believe you're missing the point... it was not I that shot down Daniel's precious theory... but you."

Sam's eyes narrowed at his accusation.

"May I remind you that astrophysics is a work in progress... it's still a young and maturing discipline, one that is restricted by the technology available. There might be worlds out there, civilisations that are invisible using the technology at our disposal. We don't know enough yet to be able to confirm or deny the existence of alien life and as a dedicated scientist it would be negligent of me to entirely rule it out."

Pritchard's smile only deepened.

"And yet what little you do know has been enough to prove that Doctor Jackson's hypothesis is fatally flawed. Perhaps if he had consulted someone like you ten years ago or indeed at the very start of his research, he wouldn't have been so foolhardy to rush forward with his theory. He chose to ignore the obvious and it resulted in his fall from grace, it has also left an indelible stain upon the reputation of this profession. "

Pritchard looked pointedly at Daniel.

"Maybe now, Daniel, you'll have the good grace to admit that you were wrong."

"I will not apologise for something that I wholeheartedly believe in."

"Not even when it has been so thoroughly disproved?"

Daniel looked at Sam, wanting to take away some of the guilt that he knew she must be feeling.

"It hasn't been disproved, it's been challenged."

Pritchard sat back in his chair and sighed dramatically.

"Oh please... can you hear yourself, you're trying to defend something that can't be defended. Have the good sense to let it go, there is no shame in admitting that you were wrong."

"I'm not wrong." He wanted to say so much more, to tell them about Ra, about Abydos, about how the Ancient Egyptians had been enslaved by a parasitical alien race. He wanted to tell them about how the people of Earth had been abducted in order to seed distant worlds, but he bit off the words before they could be spoken, reluctantly keeping the secret that could have ultimately proven his case. "I know that I can't prove it to you, but believe me... it's true."

"You're delusional, Daniel."

"I'm as sane as you are."

Pritchard stared at him for a long moment.

"You will not budge from your position?"

"I will not."

Pritchard inhaled a deep breath.

"Then you have left me, as chair of the society, with no other choice." He looked away then, toward the other nominees situated around the table. "May I have your votes gentlemen."

A kind of curious apprehension gripped Daniel as he watched each nominee around the table nod their consent to a silently asked question.

He felt a shiver run down his spine.

Of course... the question had been posed before he and Sam had even arrived at the table. How could he have been so blind? How could he have been so stupid to think that Pritchard had been genuinely interested in letting him put the record straight.

"The vote is unanimous." Pritchard turned his attention back toward Daniel. "As of this moment your fellowship and all its accreditation is revoked. As a consequence, your name will be removed from the shortlist for this evening's award ceremony."

Pritchard seemed to take inordinate pleasure in the task that he had been given, further fuelling Daniel's belief that, as in Chicago, he had orchestrated the whole thing.

"Furthermore, Daniel, I feel that I should point out that without the backing of this institution you will find it increasingly difficult to obtain any credible employment within the archaeological community, needless to say, if I were you, I would start planning a new career path. "

"You can't do that!" Sam's anger was palpable and Daniel wondered if part of it was due to the fact that she was only just realising the part she had played in bringing this about. "You can't just cut him off like that, archaeology is his life."

Pritchard chose to ignore her, keeping his steady gaze upon Daniel.

"I told you this morning that I would canvas the members if I had to. You know how old guard some of them are, how threatened they feel by change." Pritchard leaned further across the table, his eyes locking with Daniel's. "All I had to do was whisper the right things to the right people. They don't like a loose cannon, Daniel, especially one that garners all the wrong kinds of attention."

"You played me." Daniel tried hard not to let the disappointment show in his voice, but he wasn't sure that he had succeeded.

"It was easy to get them to agree to give their proxy votes to the other shortlisted candidates... all I had to do then was prove that you hadn't changed, that you are the same delusional man that you were ten years ago." Pritchard's smile intensified, the smugness returning to dominate his features. "I let out a little rope and you proceeded to hang yourself... albeit with the unforeseen, but fortuitous help of Doctor Carter."

"You sanctimonious son of a bitch." Sam rose from her seat. "This was your plan all along, wasn't it? Once you found out that Daniel was here, you set out to systematically undermine him."

"Like you said my dear... I would use any means at my disposal... yourself included."

Daniel knew that Sam's anger was at boiling point, but he also knew that as a military officer she had learned to channel it. So when she picked up her glass of wine and threw its contents in Pritchard's face, it came as a total surprise.

"Whoa, Sam..."

He grabbed her hand and prised the glass out of her fingers.

Pritchard rocked back in his chair, almost sending it toppling backward. Eyes closed against the sting of the alcohol, he grappled for a nearby napkin with which to wipe them.

His face turned crimson with rage.

"You bitch!"

"There will come a time when Daniel's theories will be proven correct, when astrophysics or some other scientific discipline has become technologically advance enough to vindicate him. When that time comes I look forward to watching you apologise to Daniel for the narrow mindedness of your so called 'venerated profession.' "

With that she turned on her heel and strode purposefully out of the restaurant.

Daniel slowly rose from his seat, placing his unused napkin on the table top. He took a moment to look around him, noting the stunned expressions on the faces of his fellow diners. The room had turned deathly silent, everyone seemed to be staring at their table, some softly whispering to one another about what they had witnessed.

He turned his attention back to Pritchard who was still mopping away the contents of Sam's wine glass from his face. Beside him, his pretty companion tried to help, but he angrily pushed her away.

"Good Night, Adam, as always... it's been a pleasure."

He turned and made his way toward the exit of the restaurant. As he did so, he passed a picture of Arthur Belmont. It showed him working on a dig site, the famous pyramids of Egypt in the background.

Daniel stopped at the picture.

In his opinion, Arthur Belmont was overrated.

Much like the Society of Archaeologists.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Sorry this has been a long time in coming, but once again real life has intervened. Unfortunately, I haven't even started chapter 9 and I have a vacation coming up, so that will also take a while before it is posted. ( Yeah... I know... I'm cutting you all off just when it is getting to the good stuff... but I'm hoping to have it posted as soon as possible) In the meantime... enjoy!**

**Pariah**

**Chapter 8**

The elevator ride back to the suite was taking much longer than usual and the atmosphere inside the car was sombre and quiet.

Every so often Sam could feel Daniel's eyes settle upon her, but she couldn't bring herself to look at him. If she did, she wouldn't be able to avoid seeing the deep seated hurt and disappointment that she knew would be etched upon his face.

Try as she might, Sam couldn't think of a single thing to say that would make up for what she had done.

She had put her duty to the military before their friendship and she had let him down badly at a time when he had needed her the most.

In hindsight it might have been better if Landry had appointed someone else as Daniel's military liaison, someone neutral, someone who wouldn't have been torn by conflicting loyalties when it came to keeping intact the secrets of the Stargate programme.

At least they wouldn't be feeling the guilt and shame that she felt now.

The elevator reached the penthouse suite and dinged to a halt.

Daniel stepped out as soon as the doors opened, shucking off his dinner jacket and tossing it upon the nearest of the sofas in the living room.

"I guess now would be a good time to open Jack's bottle of Bollinger."

He disappeared into the kitchen and Sam heard several doors opening and closing as he tried to remember the location of the fridge from the night before.

She followed him, taking a moment to dispose of her purse on one of the side tables before stopping at the entrance to the kitchen. She watched as he retrieved the bottle of champagne from the fridge and placed it on the counter, still trying to formulate in her mind the words that might instigate the much needed healing process between them.

"I'm sorry."

Daniel halted what he was doing, twisting his head so that he could look at her from over his shoulder.

"You don't need to apologise. You have nothing to be sorry for."

She felt her eyes widen in surprise.

"How can you say that after what I did?"

Instead of answering her, he looked away and resumed his search of the nearest cupboard. After a moment, he pulled out two tumbler size glasses and placed them on the counter next to the champagne bottle.

"I can't find any champagne flutes, so I guess these will have to do."

"Daniel.."

Once again the sound of her voice stilled his movements, but instead of turning around to face her, he focused his gaze upon the counter top.

"You had your orders, Sam, you did what you had to do."

Sam felt a moistness begin to seep into her eyes, which she hurriedly blinked away. It was so like Daniel to try and lessen her pain, so like him to absorb his own in order to make her feel better, but tonight his propensity for forgiveness gave her little comfort.

"You'll forgive me if I don't derive any solace from that," she stepped into the kitchen, closing the distance between them, "and you of all people should know that citing the Nuremburg defence doesn't justify what I did to you."

"You did nothing wrong." His voice had taken on a soft and soothing cadence, reminiscent of the kind he used off world when he was trying to pacify the locals. "There was nothing you could have done that would have stopped Pritchard from doing what he did."

Sam felt herself becoming annoyed at his continued willingness to let her off the hook.

"I did nothing wrong...?" She felt her hands close into tight fists at her side as the anger bubbled up like an uncapped wellspring inside her. "Damn it, Daniel, I helped him to destroy whatever career you have left as an archaeologist!" She closed the rest of the distance between them, taking a hold of his arm, turning him around so that he faced her. "I betrayed you, so yell at me... scream at me... but don't you dare forgive me."

Surprise registered on his face at the vehemence of her words.

"You were put in an impossible situation. There was nothing that you could have done differently, at least not without exposing the very things that you were sent here to protect."

"I was suppose to protect you! I promised you that I would have your back in there... instead I stabbed you in it!"

His hands came up to rest softly upon her shoulders, his fingers tracing gentle patterns across her skin as though he were trying to massage away her pain.

"Pritchard has always been a master in the art of manipulation. He never does anything without there being an ulterior motive. I should have known that his offer to let me set the record straight was a trap." His eyes turned sorrowful, their blueness dulled by regret. "My stupidity gave him the opportunity to use you against me and for that I'm truly sorry."

Sam wasn't going to let him do this. She wasn't going to let him heap the blame upon himself, not when she was the culpable one. "I don't remember you telling him that I was an astrophysicist? I gave him the opportunity, Daniel and I gave him the means with which to denounce your theory."

Expecting him to refute her words, she was surprised when instead he smiled at her.

"Listen to us... we are arguing with one another as to who is more to blame, when that blame lies squarely with Pritchard. He orchestrated this... just like he did in Chicago...it didn't matter what we did or didn't do. The outcome was always going to be the same."

"Still I should have done more... more to protect you... more to protect your theory."

"There was nothing that you could have done short of telling him that aliens exist."

Deep down inside she knew that he was right, that once Daniel had stepped into the trap that Pritchard had set for him, there would have been no other conclusion, but knowing that didn't take away the hurt she felt at betraying him.

"Then perhaps that is what I should have done. I should have told him that aliens existed."

Daniel's smile returned, his eyes shining with wry amusement.

"Some military liaison officer you would have been then," he lifted his hand from her shoulder, using his fingers to tenderly brush an errant strand of hair from her eyes, his fingers stilled against her cheek, his thumb brushing softly against it, his touch gentle and reassuring, "stop beating yourself up, Sam, the only thing you did wrong was in agreeing to accompany me here."

His eyes held hers for a moment longer, letting her see that although he was still unhappy with the way things had turned out, none of his unhappiness was directed at her.

Sam felt some of the tension inside her start to ebb away.

"Daniel, there has to be something that you can do? Isn't there a higher authority that you can appeal to?"

"You're assuming that is what I want."

He turned away from her long enough to pick up the champagne bottle and glasses, then stepping around her, he headed back out into the lounge, leaving her staring at his retreating back, her mind trying to make sense of what she had heard.

"Wait a minute..." she exited the kitchen after him, "..are you saying that you don't intend to challenge their decision?"

"That is exactly what I'm saying."

Reaching the coffee table, he deposited the champagne and glasses upon it before settling himself on the nearest sofa.

Sam just stared at him, her mind in complete confusion. She had just spent God knows how long chastising herself for the part that she had played in ending his academic career and here he was acting as though it was nothing more than a trivial inconvenience.

"I must have missed something? Are you saying that you have no intention of trying to save your career?"

"Yes."

Why was he being so damn stoical?

"Why would you let the likes of Pritchard win without even putting up a fight? That's not like you... you fight for everything. It's one of the many things that I admire about you. So why are you giving up so easily now?"

"I'm not giving up, I'm just choosing not to fight."

What the hell did that mean?

"Daniel, you're not making any sense."

He didn't answer, but set about opening the champagne bottle, which Sam knew was a stalling tactic.

But why would he be stalling?

Usually he had a ready-made argument for everything.

The cork parted company with the bottle on a soft pop, gliding through the air to land softly upon the opposite sofa cushion. The fizzing wine frothed over the rim of the bottle and Daniel quickly poured it into one of the tumblers. He filled the other tumbler and offered it to Sam.

She shook her head.

Daniel took a small sip from the proffered glass before setting it down next to the one on the table. Sitting back in his seat, he motioned for her to join him on the couch.

Knowing that she wouldn't get anymore answers out of him until she complied, Sam crossed to where he sat and settled into the seat next to him.

Daniel shifted slightly, turning so that he was facing her.

"Do you ever wonder what we'll do when we finally step away from the Stargate?"

She hadn't been expecting that, hadn't expected him to broach a subject that had become taboo amongst them. Sure Cam would joke from time to time about the band going solo, but they had never sat down and voiced what they would do when eventually it all ended.

She shrugged.

"I guess I've never really set aside time to think about it."

He nodded as though he had expected that very answer.

"Yet you seem to think that I'll return to archaeology, but the truth is... I don't want to."

Sam was stunned. Daniel not return to archaeology? It was almost impossible to comprehend. He loved it. He was always bemoaning the fact that he never got enough time to pursue it anymore, so the thought of him turning his back on it seemed totally insane.

"Why wouldn't you return to something that means so much to you?"

"How can I after everything that I have seen?" His eyes took on that impassioned look, the one he got when he was about to try and explain a particularly complex argument. "Much of what I learned is now outdated, superseded by the new rules and methods that I've had to implement in order to do my work in the field. Returning to mainstream archaeology would be like taking a giant step backward."

Sam had to admit that he had a valid point. She felt the same about some aspects of astrophysics.

"So what will you do?"

This time it was Daniel's turn to shrug his shoulders.

"I guess I'm an explorer at heart, so when the time comes I'll ask permission from whomever is in charge to live off world."

Live off world... she'd never see him again.

"Oh."

"You seem surprised?"

Surprised didn't exactly cover it. She'd just found out that he would eventually leave her. Okay, so it might not be for some time, possibly even years , but she had always secretly harboured the hope that there would be some kind of future with him, but if he was thinking of living off world, then it was obvious that she didn't play any part in his plans.

And that... she realised with a pang of sorrow... hurt.

"Sam?"

Daniel's soft voice broke into her thoughts, bringing her back to the moment. She found him staring at her, concern etching a deep furrow across his forehead.

His hand reached out and took a hold of hers.

"What's wrong?" His eyes searched her face. "You had this faraway look in your eyes, like you were somewhere else, then it changed and you suddenly looked so sad."

She couldn't let him think that, if she did then he might work out why and that would be embarrassing. Instead she forced herself to smile at him, shaking her head, dismissing the feelings she had just had.

"I'm fine, Daniel."

"Are you sure?" The tone of his voice denoted that he wasn't entirely convinced that she was okay.

She nodded.

His thumb had began idly caressing the back of her hand and she wished it would stop. It wasn't fair to torture her in that way, not when she now knew that he could offer nothing more in that touch than friendship.

"You didn't answer my question...why were you surprised that I would decide to live off world?"

Reigning in her wayward emotions, Sam tried to focus instead on answering his question.

"Right now the Stargate plays such an important part in our lives. We are at war and the stakes are probably the highest they have ever been. I guess most of my time is taken up with trying to figure out the best way to defeat the Ori, and that leaves little time to think about anything else. I haven't had the time to think about what will happen when it all ends." She forced herself to smile again, wanting to ease some of the concern that she could still see on his face, it's reluctance to depart a sure sign that he hadn't forgotten her earlier distress. "I guess I thought that it was the same for all of us, but it's good to know that you've been thinking ahead, it shows that you haven't given up hope."

"I haven't given up hope. We will defeat the Ori and then, hopefully, we'll get the respite that we deserve."

Sam reached for the tumbler of champagne and snagged it with her hand, raising it to her lips.

"Here's to that day, Daniel."

She took a mouthful of wine, letting the sensation of the popping bubbles fill her mouth before swallowing. The alcohol burned as it went down, settling warmly in the pit of her stomach, taking the chill off of the coldness that had settled there since Daniel had revealed his intentions.

"So what do you think? About my living off world?"

She couldn't tell him the truth, doing so would only reveal things that were better left undisturbed.

"I think that it makes perfect sense, after all when I first met you, you were living on Abydos."

She cast her mind back a decade, back to the moment when she had met a rather geeky looking young archaeologist dressed in worn desert robes. He had changed so much since then, he had been forced to in order to survive, but there was a part of her that cherished the memory of that first, fateful encounter between them.

"I can understand why you might want to return to a place like that. To make a home for yourself within a culture that most people think only exists in history books. You had an idyllic life there, you found someone to love and if Aphopis hadn't destroyed it, you would probably still be living that life. I can't blame you for wanting it back and I can't blame you for wanting to find another woman like Sha're, someone that can give you the love you deserve."

God it hurt so much to say that, but she had to, she had to let him think that she was okay with it.

Until the day that he made that decision, providing of course that they made it through whatever the future had in store for them, she would remain at his side and be what she had always been, what she realised now she could only be.

His friend.

She hadn't realised that she had been staring forlornly at the carpet until she felt Daniel's fingers slip under her chin, until she felt him gently tip her face up so that he could look at her.

His eyes held hers, their blueness a deeper hue than she could remember seeing before. They seemed to bore into her with an intensity that felt as though he was looking into her very soul. She couldn't shake the feeling that he was searching for something, something that he knew that he could only find in the deepest recesses of her heart.

For a moment she felt panicked, worried that he might uncover what she was trying so very hard to hide, but then the intensity of the stare softened, his demeanour returning to that of a concerned friend.

"Tell me what it is that you want, Sam?"

Why did he have to ask her that?

Why now?

Why when she couldn't give him the honest answer?

When she could no longer tell him that it was him that she wanted.

"I told you... I've never really thought about it."

"I don't believe that you've never thought about what you want... everyone has dreams, desires... needs."

His thumb traced a lazy path across her chin.

His touch was too much and she felt her bottom lip start to tremble as she fought to keep her composure. She couldn't fall apart, not now. If she did, he would want to know why.

Daniel's thumb altered course, slipping across her lip, causing an involuntary shiver to race through her nerve endings.

Why was he doing this?

"I did love my life on Abydos. I loved its simplicity. Don't get me wrong... it was a harsh existence, but it was also a fair one. The Abydonian's were the most honest, hard working and generous people I have ever met and I found the love of a beautiful and special woman, but I have no intention of returning to a place like that."

Now it was beginning to make sense and Sam wondered why she hadn't realised it before. Of course he couldn't return to a world that reminded him on a daily basis of all he had lost.

"Because it would remind you too much of Sha're?"

Daniel shook his head.

"Sha're will always have a special place in my heart. I'll never forget her, in a way she helped to shape the man that I am, but being reminded of her isn't the reason why I couldn't live on a planet like Abydos."

"I don't understand, if you loved Abydos so much why can't you return to a world like it?"

He took a long time to answer, a myriad of emotions crossing his face as he carefully considered his next words. There was a degree of fear evident in his eyes, as though he was afraid of the ramifications of the answer that he was thinking of giving. Then his eyes locked onto hers and that looked disappeared, replaced with a resoluteness that gave her the impression that his inner battle was won and that he had come to a decision.

A flutter of apprehension caused a ripple effect inside her chest.

"I don't want to live off world alone. There is someone that I care for, that I care deeply for and I have felt that way for some time. I want to take her with me. I'm hoping to share the rest of my life with her... that is... if she'll have me?"

The tenderness in his voice took her by surprise along with the unmistakable meaning behind his words.

Oh God... when had that happened?

When had he fallen in love?

Sam felt a cold chasm open up inside her, felt herself teeter upon its edge as she realised that she had been deluding herself for so long. Caught up as she was with her own feelings toward him, she had totally missed seeing that he had found someone else to give his heart to.

Oblivious to her inner turmoil, Daniel continued.

"I know that she could never be happy on a world like Abydos, its culture would hold nothing of interest for her. I also know that if she thought that it was something that I wanted she would try and hide that fact, mask her own unhappiness for the sake of mine and I could never allow her to do that."

Daniel fell silent and Sam realised that he was expecting her to respond, to say something, to ask him the next logical question.

Reluctantly and with a heavy heart she did so.

"Then where would you go?"

"To a place where the Ancients set up a civilisation, a place where I could further understand how they evolved into the ascended beings that they eventually became." The fingers that had supported her chin slipped tenderly across her cheek until he was cradling it against his palm. His eyes looked earnestly into hers. "It would also have to be someplace where the technology was advanced enough to satisfy that insatiable appetite that you have for taking things apart to see how they work."

His words reverberated inside her head like a game of pinball, spinning off in all kinds of directions. She couldn't seem to pull them together, for her brain seemed reluctant to know the truth, to know the secrets of his heart.

"I guess that makes sense... you were once ascended... you're bound to want to know how..." The words trailed off as Sam's brain finally put what he had said into a coherent sentence. "What did you say?"

"I said the technology would have to be advanced enough to survive your constant tinkering with it."

"Me?" She swallowed against the dryness that had taken up residence in her mouth. "You want to live off world... with me?"

A soft smile curved up the corner of his mouth and his free hand came up to join his other as he framed her face between his palms.

"Only you, Sam."

Slowly he inclined his head, closing the remaining distance between them until his lips were only millimetres away from hers.

"Tell me you want this too?"

Sam's heart was thudding like a jack hammer in her chest and she couldn't understand how Daniel couldn't hear it.

He loved her.

He wanted to live the rest of his life with her.

She had gotten it wrong... so very wrong and now was her chance to have everything that she had dreamed of, everything that she had silently wished for but thought she could never have.

All she had to do was reach out and take it.

Her hand curled around the nape of his neck.

"I want this too."

Pulling him toward her, she slanted her mouth across his, feeling his lips yield willingly beneath hers.


	9. Chapter 9

**Pariah **

**Chapter 9**

**A/N I know... I know... it's taken me a long time to update this story. My sincere apologies, but I've really had a tough time writing this and there have been a lot of things going on in my RL that has left me with absolutely no motivation to write anything. Let me know if you like it. I promise that I will finish this story, although it might take a little while.**

**Enjoy**

He had imagined it a million times, fantasised about it during a thousand lonely nights, but the reality of having Sam in his arms, her lips brushing sensuously against his exceeded anything that his meagre imagination had been able to conjure up.

Her lips were warm and pliant, the kiss feather light and full of unspoken promises that teased his senses as much as it encouraged him to deepen it further.

Accepting her silent invitation, he slid his fingers through the soft strands of her hair, bracketing her face so that he could slant his mouth more fully across hers.

Sam shifted her body in response, moving closer as though she wanted nothing more than to mould herself against him. The heat of her upper body seeped through the thin silk of his dress shirt warming his skin, sending small frissons of arousal coursing through his body.

He swept the tip of his tongue against her lips, nudging them apart so that he could delve even further into her mouth. She opened to him upon a long moan of approval, allowing him access, their tongues shyly touching and retreating, tentatively pushing against the redefined boundaries of this bourgeoning intimacy.

He was burning with need, a need that had been restrained and held at bay for far too long. Having her this close, feeling the way that her body reacted to his touch caused the smouldering desire within him to ignite into a conflagration of unrestrained passion.

His hands travelled down the entire length of her back, his fingertips following the line of her vertebra as they made their way steadily south. The heat of her skin almost scorched his fingers, but he ignored the sensation, his concentration centred upon reaching his goal. Finally his questing fingers made contact with the shimmering material that covered her backside and he gave it a soft squeeze.

Sam's moan reverberated against his mouth.

He couldn't wait any longer, he wanted more... truth be told he wanted a lot more.

Without conscious thought, he pulled her roughly against him, shifting his weight, twisting his body so that he could manoeuvre her into position straddling his lap.

Sam came willingly, her hands coming down to rest easily upon his shoulders, using them as leverage as she adjusted her own position, bringing their bodies into even closer proximity, until he could feel the heat of her through the ever tightening fabric of his trousers.

The kiss that had instigated this unexpected turn of events slowly petered out, their combined need for oxygen bringing it to a reluctant close.

Panting, flushed from their exertions they stared at one another.

"Wow!" Daniel said.

Sam giggled.

"Thirty two different languages and that's all you can come up with?"

"Hey!" He tried to sound indignant, but failed, he was feeling way too good right now to even care. "You fried most of my major synapses with that kiss, so think yourself lucky that I managed even that."

Sam's gaze slipped momentarily to his lap then back up to meet his eyes.

"Should I be worried that I might have fried more than just your synapses?"

She grinned mischievously at him.

Daniel narrowed his eyes and tried to look affronted.

"Certainly not, everything is in good working order."

"Glad to hear it." She leant forward to kiss him softly on the lips, then pulled back to look at him again, a small frown creasing her brow. "Daniel, does this feel a little strange to you?"

Daniel's euphoria, which had been climbing skyward promptly stalled and nosedived back toward the ground.

Those were not the words that he had been hoping to hear.

Sam must have picked up something from his facial expression because she promptly shook her head, reaching across to cup his face in her hands.

"I don't mean strange as in weird, or wrong, but strange as in I can't believe that we've finally reached this point. It's like... it's like we've reached a terminus on this part of our journey and suddenly here we are having to decide in which direction we have to go next."

If she had been trying to make him feel better, she hadn't. He didn't like those words anymore than he had the previous ones.

"I thought that there was only one direction that we were headed in."

Sam let her hands drop from his face and sat back a little.

"There are practicalities to be faced."

Right practicalities, it wasn't as if he hadn't imagined that they would rear their ugly heads, but he hadn't reckoned on it being so soon.

"What kind of practicalities are we talking about?"

"Well there is the team to consider and our place on it and of course there are the fraternization rules, that's something we can't just ignore. Then there is the fact that we are at war with the Ori, right now we need to be focused, we don't need any distractions..."

"Is that what I'd be... a distraction to you?"

He had tried to keep the hurt and anger out of his voice, but when Sam stared back at him in shock, he knew he had failed.

"God, no, that's not what I meant." Her hand slipped across his cheek, caressing it softly. "You could never be a distraction. Daniel, you are and always will be an integral part of my life. I would never jeopardise what we have for something that wasn't meaningful. I'd rather we just stay friends than hurt you like that."

"Then what do you mean?"

She studied his face for a long time and he realised that she was thinking carefully about what she was going to say next, mindful of the minefield that they were about to enter and not wanting to detonate one with an offhand or casual remark.

"Earlier, when you talked about us living off world together, you were talking about the future, a future when we had defeated the Ori."

"Yes."

"We both know that we are a long way from defeating them, in fact, based on the last couple of months... I'd say that we are close to being overrun by them. If we can't find a weapon that we can harness and use against them..."

"Then all this is a moot point."

She nodded.

"One of the practicalities that we have to face is that we are at war and that there are three other members of our team that rely upon us to protect them, to watch their backs."

"That won't change."

"Wouldn't it? You sound so sure, Daniel, but if we did this... if we embarked upon a relationship now instead of in the future... things would change... not just for us... but for everyone around us."

"Sam..."

"Hear me out, Daniel. There are reasons why the military frowns on couples being on the same team, a very good reason. Once emotions become a factor, you lose the professionalism, the thing that binds the team together. We'd start to put each other before anyone else, we wouldn't be able to help it, its natural."

Disappointedly he realised that she didn't understand, but then how could she when he had never said anything to her.

"You're wrong, Sam." Her eyebrow rose sharply at his remark and she made to say something, but he stalled her with a raised hand. "I've been carrying around these feelings for a long time, so have you. In all that time, has either one of us lost our professionalism when the other has been in danger? Have we ever ignored the dangers surrounding out teammates in order to focus on and protect each other?" He reached across and curled his hand around hers, removing it from his cheek, clasping it gently against his breast, over his heart. "It's not a case of could we risk each other to save our friends... we already do. Our feelings for one another will never stop us from doing what we know is right."

He could see that she was weighing up his argument, deciding whether it merited a response, but he wasn't in a mood to give her a chance to counter it.

"What about the flip side?" She looked at him quizzically. "Do you really want to wait?" Again he didn't give her time to answer, but ploughed straight ahead. "Look how long it took us to defeat the Goa'uld. Who knows how long it will take to defeat the Ori?" He removed the hand that he was holding against his chest and guided it to his lips, bathing her fingers with soft kisses. "You know the risks we take every time we step through the gate. You've seen what happens when it goes wrong, if nothing else, then that should be the lesson we've learned from Kelowna."

Her entire body stiffened at the mention of that planet, her face registering the rawness of the pain and sorrow that she still carried with regard to that fateful mission. Silently Daniel chastised himself for bringing up a subject that still had the capacity to hurt her so much, but he was trying to make a point, a point he hoped he could make her understand.

"I know that I'm asking a lot, that I'm asking you to go against everything that you have spent your military career believing in. I know that you set stock in the rules, that you have relied upon them in order to survive. I know that it is something that you have put your trust in, but if we wait... if we wait for a future that might not even happen, then we run the risk that we might lose each other before we've even had the chance of knowing the joy of loving each other."

"I get it, Daniel, we're not guaranteed a tomorrow, but..."

"I couldn't live with that kind of regret, could you?"

She opened her mouth as though to say something, but then abruptly closed it. An immeasurable look of sadness crossed her face, the sorrow indelibly etched upon her pale skin. Gone was the strong and self assured soldier, replaced now by a woman who looked as though all the stuffing had been torn out of her.

It made her look uncharacteristically fragile.

"No... I couldn't live with that regret, not for a second time."

A solitary tear trailed down the side of her face.

Daniel hadn't expected his words to have had such a sudden and unexpected impact.

"I'm sorry, I never meant to upset you."

She used her free hand to dash away the traitorous tear.

"It's okay, you just reminded me that sometimes I forget."

She looked away from him, her gaze dropping to her lap. Gently, he slipped a finger under her chin and raised it upwards, so that he could look at her, so that he could read the truth written in her eyes.

"Forget what?"

"That you and I have been given a second chance." She gave him a melancholy smile, one tinged with acute sadness. "Daniel, I know what it's like to live with regret, I lived with it every day that you were gone after Kelowna." Her fingers slipped across his face, tracing the outline of his mouth, his eyes, his nose, as though she were committing them to memory. "Losing you almost tore me apart, regretting that I never told you how I felt almost killed me." She inhaled a deep breath and her blue eyes locked intently upon his, holding him captive within their gaze. "I'm not prepared to let that happen again."

"You're not?"

"No."

"Then just that mean..."

Her lips met his in an intense kiss, almost savage in its hunger, in its heated need to show him everything that she had kept secret from him. His own primal need reacted to the onslaught and he had to stop himself from pushing her down upon the couch and ravishing her right there.

Her body relaxed into the kiss, her arms coming up to hang limply around his neck, her fingers sifting through the short hairs at his nape. As he swept his tongue against her lips he felt, as well as heard, her moan of pleasure followed by the sweet push of her body against him, pressing down upon the urgent need in his groin.

He brought his hand down to rest against her leg and began the slow process of slipping the dress slowly up her thigh, but the damn thing refused to move any further.

Sam broke their kiss, her mouth leaving his on a soft pop.

"Daniel... the dress..."

"I know, just give me a second," He tried again, but it wouldn't budge. He remembered thinking earlier that she had been poured into it, now he knew for certain that she had.

He gave it another impatient tug.

Sam's hand slipped across his, stilling his actions.

"That's not what I meant..," she was panting, her lips swollen and bruised from his kisses. Her face was adorably flushed, her eyes wide, pupils dilated with the evidence of her own state of arousal, "... be careful with it... it's hired and I don't earn enough to pay for any damages."

"Pity."

"Why?"

"Because I was hoping that it and the woman in it would feature in a few more of my fantasies."The blush that resonated on Sam's face almost matched the hue of the dress. "So tell me... how exactly do I extract the astrophysicist from the dress?"

Sam's blush deepened, if that was even possible and she looked shyly away from him, her eyes ducking his attempts to get a good look at her.

Had he prematurely jumped the gun?

Perhaps she didn't want to take things that far just yet, maybe she still needed time to process everything.

"That is assuming that you want to... I mean... we don't have to... if you think we're moving too fast... I'll understand... it's just that..."

Sam stopped him with a finger against his lips.

"Daniel... you talk too much."

She replaced her finger with her lips, kissing him briefly before carefully disentangling herself from his embrace so that she could stand up.

"I have no intention of making love to you on a couch, besides you're not the only one with a fantasy or two tucked up your sleeve. A couple of mine centre around a four poster bed and a naked archaeologist."

She gave him a predatory smile, one so loaded with unconcealed lust that his mouth went dry.

She held out her hand, he grasped it and she pulled him to his feet.

"Bring the champagne, it would be a shame to waste it."

He did as she requested, snatching up the bottle and glasses, following her as she led them into the bedroom. Instead of turning on the main lights, she bypassed them, crossing to the nightstand and turning on the ones there.

A soft amber glow permeated the room.

They stared at one another for a long moment, each of them coming to terms with the consequences of what they were about to do. Each of them accepting the inevitability of it, the inevitability of a moment that had taken the good part of a decade in the making.

Sam's hands moved slowly upward, toward the thin spaghetti straps of the dress, with her eyes fixed upon Daniel's she began to lower them.

"No," she abruptly ceased her movements, pulling her hands away from the dress as though they had been burned. A look of uncertainty crossed her eyes and Daniel wondered if she was thinking that he might have changed his mind. Wanting to ease that particular worry from her mind, he crossed to the nightstand and deposited the champagne and glasses upon it, then he turned to face her, "face the window, Sam."

She cocked an eyebrow at him in a fair rendition of Teal'c, but pivoted around as he requested. He stepped up behind her, noting the almost ghostly appearance of the their reflection in the picture window.

"I want you to watch as I undress you."

He raised his hands to her shoulders, his fingers brushing tenderly against her skin, seeking out the spaghetti straps and slowly lowering them down her arms.

"I want you to see what I see, to watch my reaction as your body is revealed to me."

His lips followed the path of his fingers, eliciting a gasp from Sam as he nipped at the skin upon her shoulder, he soothed away the pain with his tongue, while his fingers continued to teasingly lower the garment an inch at a time.

He nudged her softly with his hips, rotating them in a slow circle, knowing that she would be able to feel his arousal against her.

She moaned, pushing herself back against him, her need for him as strong as his own.

"Slide your arms out, Sam."

Hesitantly she complied, but as he tried to lower the gown further, she stilled his actions, holding the shimmering material across her breasts.

"Daniel, do you think we could..." she tilted her head in the direction of the bed.

He gave her an empathic shake of his head.

Her self-consciousness was evident, he guessed that she had never had a man undress her like this before. It was apparent that the normally unflappable Samantha Carter, a woman who could hold her own in a fire fight with a battalion of Jaffa, was having inadequacy issues regarding revealing her body to him.

"I've been imagining doing this all night, ever since I saw you on the balcony. For hours I have wanted nothing more than to peel this incredibly sexy dress from your body and see what's underneath." His hand covered hers where it still held tightly to the dress. "Why don't you show me, Sam?"

She closed her eyes briefly as though summoning up some inward stockpile of courage, then swallowed hard.

He felt her hand drop away from the fabric, leaving his hand holding the dress, her silent consent for him to continue.

"Open your eyes."

Her eyes fluttered open and met his in the reflection in the glass. Daniel let go of the fabric, letting the material fall away from her upper body.

He inhaled sharply.

God she was beautiful.

Standing there topless, she reminded him of a statue of Aphrodite that he had seen in a museum a long time ago, serene, elegant, with a natural beauty that transcended time.

How could she think that she wouldn't measure up to his expectations?

How could she be so oblivious to her own beauty?

"God, Sam..."

His hands came up to cup her breasts, the warm weight of them filling his palms. His thumbs brushed languidly across her nipples, feeling them tighten under his touch. She gasped, her body involuntarily arching, pushing herself even further into his caressing hands.

"Daniel..." Sam's voice had taken on a husky cadence, an octave or two lower than usual, the sound of it sent a pulse of need shooting through his groin. "this isn't fair, I need to touch you."

Her hand shot back and came into contact with his right thigh, luckily for Daniel he was standing directly behind her so she couldn't reach her intended target.

"Not yet, Sam, I'm not finished looking yet."

The look that she gave him would have impaled a lesser man, it also told him in no uncertain terms that she wasn't entirely happy with the game that he was playing.

Ignoring the look, but making a mental note that he was probably doing so at his own peril, he moved his hands from her breasts and made a bee line for her hips, where the gown now resided. Crouching down, he hooked his fingers inside, deftly lowering it over her unresisting pelvis, revealing to his eager eyes a pair of incredibly lacy, high cut, crimson panties, that left nothing whatsoever to the imagination.

"Jesus," the dress fell from his limp fingers to pool around Sam's feet in a scarlet puddle, "please tell me you don't wear underwear like this on off world missions?"

He looked up at her, only to be met by a smug smile and a cocked eyebrow.

Daniel gulped.

The idea that she had been around him all this time dressed like that had his heart beating like a trip hammer. He would never be able to look at her in those baggy BDU's again without wondering what was underneath.

Which, he realised, was exactly what she wanted him to think.

Sam wasn't exactly Miss prim and proper, but he knew her well enough to know that there was no way in hell she would wear something like that on missions. Besides he had seen her practically undressed, when she was wounded or when they had to change clothes unexpectedly and he knew he would have remembered something like that.

It would have been indelibly imprinted upon his brain.

He slipped his fingers across the silky garment, feeling the warm heat of her pool against his fingers.

"Have you any idea what you have been doing to me? How torturous it has been sitting next to you, wanting to touch you, but knowing that I couldn't, that I might never be able to touch you the way I want to?"

His fingers slipped lower and Sam made a noise that was somewhere between a strangled moan and a gasp. Her eyes locked with his in the reflected glass, watching him with a mesmerised gaze as his fingers worked over and against her, her hips rocking slightly in counterpoint.

"Daniel..." her voice sounded raspy, "not like this... not the first time."

Looking up, he found himself being dragged under by the riptide of unconcealed passion that he saw in her eyes.

"I want to make love to you, not to some reflection in a piece of glass. I don't want there to be anymore boundaries between us, real or imaginary... I'm sick of them... I just want it to be you and me... together."

Slowly Daniel raised himself from his crouched position, until he stood directly in front of her. Raising a hand, he gently tucked a stray strand of golden hair behind her ear.

"Are you sure? Are you ready because if we do this there is no going back."

"I'm ready."

She pulled him against her, her breasts flattening against the silk of his shirt and kissed him in a way that he remembered being kissed only once before, by another woman on a planet that he had once called home.

It was a kiss that spoke of many things, but more than anything he knew that Sam, just like Sha're before her, was staking her claim on him, marking him with her lips as belonging to her and her alone.

Something deep inside him, something that he had thought lost forever unfurled and opened like a newly bloomed flower.

When they broke from the kiss, Daniel swept her into his arms and crossed the few short steps to the bed. Gently he deposited her upon the mattress where she scooted back against the pillows so that she could watch him as he shed his clothes for her. She seemed to take an inordinate amount of time just staring at him, her eyes slowly travelling across the length of his body in appreciative approval.

He joined her on the bed, kissing her languidly, slipping his arms around her, their upper bodies pressing tightly together. No longer able to ignore the growing arousal within him, he rolled her beneath him, his fingers reaching out to stroke her body, finding the secret places that gave her pleasure and heightened her desire.

He removed the last barrier that stood between them, tossing the silken material onto the floor and Sam welcomed him into her body upon an inarticulate moan of pleasure. As her heat surrounded him, he felt the last missing piece of himself snap firmly back into place, felt the love well up inside him with such intensity that it threatened to overwhelm him.

They were no longer two separate beings, but now one entity, moving together with purpose, driving each other to their ultimate goals. Sam was the first to topple over the edge, her body tightening around him as she rode out the storm surge that engulfed her, his name a soft whisper on her lips.

The sound of it, so longed for and now a palpable reality sent him spiralling headlong into the maelstrom of his own gratifying release.

He could feel his arms shaking with the effort to keep him held above her, his body spent and boneless from the intensity of their lovemaking. He rolled away from her, snaking an arm around her waist, pulling her with him, not wanting to lose the intimate connection that they had established.

Already he could feel the lassitude of impending sleep calling to him and he knew that it wouldn't be long before he succumbed to its allure. Pulling the comforter around them, he twisted his body so that he could switch off the lights, casting the room into inky darkness. He lay back against the pillows listening to the sound of his heartbeat as it slowly returned to its normal rhythm.

Sam shifted slightly, her long legs entangling with his, her hand drifting tenderly across his abdomen to come to rest over his heart. It struck him that she was almost in the same position as she had been when he had awoken with her that morning.

"Sam?"

"Hmm."

"I'm glad Jack screwed up the reservations, if we had had separate rooms this might never have happened."

He felt her lips twitch against his chest as she smiled.

"Oh, it would have happened, Daniel, maybe not tonight, but it would have happened."

"Well I for one am glad it was tonight."

Sam placed a kiss upon his chest, then trailed several more across his abdomen, his muscles involuntarily twitching as she followed her kisses with a long sweep of her tongue.

"So am I, Daniel, so am I."

Her hand slipped lower and the rest of Daniel's thoughts promptly evaporated.


	10. Chapter 10

**Pariah**

**Chapter 10.**

It wasn't the early morning sunlight streaming into the room that woke Sam up, nor was it the sound of the Pacific Ocean as it pounded upon the beach far below.

It was the sound of Daniel singing.

Daniel hardly ever sang, in fact in the years that she had known him she could probably count on the fingers of one hand the times he had broken into song and still have fingers left over. Yet here he was warbling with as much gusto as a fully fledged member of the dawn chorus.

It brought a smile to her lips.

The slightly off key melody seemed to be coming from the balcony and Sam wondered why Daniel was out there and not still snugly ensconced with her in the bed. It certainly didn't sound as though he were having any second thoughts about the change in their relationship, on the contrary, he sounded happy and content.

So what was he up to?

In order to find out the answer to that question she would have to leave the warm cocoon of comfort that was provided by the bed.

She stretched luxuriously, feeling her muscles and sinews elongate, noting in the back of her mind the decadent sensation of having her nakedness slide across the silken material of the satin sheets.

Flashes of memory from the night before began to pepper her consciousness, her mind revisiting some of the exploits that she and Daniel had got up to, she felt a blush begin to rise slowly across her face and chest.

A certain part of her anatomy took that particular moment to remind her of the fact that it had been some time since it had last been put through such an intense and prolonged workout.

She smiled ruefully to herself.

Daniel had managed to surpass all her expectations of him as a lover, in fact she had to admit that her fantasy imaginings had fallen well short of the mark, but then she hadn't expected Daniel to be so well versed in the art of sexual seduction.

He was truly a master of his craft.

With hindsight she should have guessed that he would bring to his lovemaking the same passion and drive that he brought to every other facet of his life. However, it was one thing to know that, but a whole different story to be on the receiving end of that intensity... to have been its focal point... knowing that all of his concentration had narrowed down to the point where every touch, every caress, every sweep of his tongue, were designed with only one thing in mind...

... to bring her to heart palpitating and mind altering orgasm.

Again and again.

To the point where Sam had wondered whether it could be possible to overdose and die from too much sexual gratification.

He was an incredibly generous lover, reigning in his own passion whenever it had threatened to overwhelm him, sometimes denying himself the release that he so willingly and unreservedly gave to her. She had wondered at his stamina, at the level of his self control, at the sheer determination that it must have taken to override his body's need for completion to ensure that she reached her own.

Instead he had waited patiently for her to come down from the sexual highs, letting her senses recover from the almost overwhelming sensations that he had induced within her before starting the process of reigniting the fires toward release once more.

He had coaxed her to levels of passion and desire that she hadn't thought possible. In one night he had totally altered her perception of what it was to make love to someone and have them make love to you.

There had been no doubt that it was an act of love, she had seen it in his eyes, felt it in the touch of his lips, heard it in the cadence of his voice. He had loved her with an openness that she had found astounding, willingly shedding before her the protective layers with which he had long ago wrapped his heart.

Seeing his willingness to make himself vulnerable for her, she had been able to do nothing less in return, allowing him to see the things that she normally kept well hidden, allowing herself to be open to him in a way that she had never been with any other lover.

Her thoughts slowly came back to the present and the small matter of getting out of bed, she hesitated briefly before reluctantly pushing the comforter to one side. The early morning chill swept across her body causing her to shiver, she felt goose bumps break out across her nakedness.

Slipping out of bed, she cast her eyes about the room for something to put on, she couldn't find anything easily to hand until her eyes picked out Daniel's shirt from the night before laying discarded on a nearby chair.

She slipped it on, feeling the soft cotton settle over her skin, inhaling the familiar and comforting scent of Daniel's aroma.

"I know it's a cliché, but that shirt looks a hell of a lot better on you than it ever did on me."

She turned in the direction of his voice and found him leaning nonchalantly against the balcony door, his lower body clad in a pair of faded jeans, his torso delectably bare and slightly pink from the morning sun.

She had to admit that he looked pretty damn good and although she was a little tender in certain places, her body instantly reacted to seeing him in such a dishabille state.

Apparently, he was thinking the same thing, for his blue eyes began a slow meander down the whole length of her body, settling on the area where his shirt met the top of her thighs. The heated gaze that he gave her was enough to make her mouth go dry, the desire within shamelessly apparent.

He crossed the distance between them in three long strides, one hand going around her waist as he pulled her flush against his body, his lips descending upon hers, capturing them in a long, lazy kiss that left her breathless when he finally pulled away.

"I had to make sure, Sam?"

"Make sure of what?"

"That this time it's real. That I haven't woken up with you in my arms and it's all a dream... another case of wishful thinking."

"It's real, Daniel." She let her hand drift across his bare back, feeling the muscles there bunch and flex as her fingers glided across them. "I'm here... you're here... this is real... I promise you," she kissed him tenderly on the lips before peppering a long line of kisses across his face and nose. He closed his eyes under the onslaught, "besides, I would have thought waking up naked together might have given it away?"

"I've held you naked in my dreams before only to wake up to the reality of a cold lonely bed."

"Speaking of lonely beds... what were you doing out on the balcony?"

His eyes blinked open and he gave her a soft smile.

"I was making preparations."

"Preparations for what?"

"Breakfast. I thought it would be nice to have it out on the balcony overlooking the Ocean instead of in a crowded restaurant." His hand slipped over the material of the shirt, inching lower until they slipped under the fabric to caress her upper thigh. "It also has certain advantages that up until this moment I hadn't considered, such as the fact that there is no need for you to get dressed. I have to admit that the idea of you sitting across from me in nothing more than my shirt is very... appealing."

He reeled her in for a kiss, his mouth moving purposely across hers, his tongue slipping out to meet and entwine with its more than willing twin.

His hand on her thigh travelled up and around coming to rest against the curve of her backside. Rhythmically he began to knead the soft muscle there, his fingers digging gently into the flesh.

Sam broke the kiss on a gasp.

"How the hell do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Know exactly where and how to touch me?"

His mouth curved up in a devilish smile.

"You mean like this..."

His hand drifted upward before slipping across her hipbone, it halted there and his questing fingers began to stroke and massage the area where her thigh met her pelvis, his fingers ran smoothly over and around the same spot, adding more pressure with each circular movement.

Sam's eyes slammed shut as the sensations caused by his movements swept across her senses.

She let out a soft moan of pleasure.

"Yeah... like that."

"Lucky I guess."

"I don't think luck has anything to do with it, Dr Jackson." Sam's eyes opened and met his, her hand moving to still his actions upon her over sensitized flesh, "so spill... how did you know... how did you know what to do and more importantly where to do it... considering that until last night we hadn't been intimate with one another."

"I guess you won't buy that your body is a good teacher, huh?"

She gave him a slow shake of the head.

"Daniel, it was like you knew me... knew everything about me... it was both amazing and a little unsettling."

He nodded his head in understanding, his eyes becoming unfocused for a moment as though he were trying to come to a decision about something, then taking her hand in his, he lead her back toward the bed, beckoning her to sit on its edge.

"It was Abydos..."

"I'm sorry..."

"...where I learned to do that. Where I learned to read a woman's body."

"You learned to do that on Abydos?"

"Don't sound so surprised, Sam." Daniel sat down beside her on the bed. "To you and I they might have appeared a little primitive, but when it came to the art of lovemaking, they had an understanding of the human body that was unsurpassed."

"What do you mean?"

His fingers made their way toward her shirt where he began to slowly unbutton it, his eyes leaving hers to concentrate on the task. He gently pushed the two halves of the material apart and then over her shoulders, pushing it from her body to expose her nakedness.

Sam felt her heart rate speed up at the same moment that her mouth went inexplicably dry.

"I think that they were the originators of the Kama Sutra or at least their own variation of it," his eyes came up to meet hers, full of the same hunger and desire that she had seen in them the night before, "they came to it out of necessity because they were trying to save what was left of their tribe, for them it was a matter of life or death."

He kissed her softly upon the lips before guiding her down upon the bed, his hands taking up their skilful caresses of earlier. Immediately, she began to feel her body responding, felt the fires within her begin to re-kindle.

The movement of his fingers were now being combined with the soft dance of his lips across her upper chest and although his movements were sensual they were not yet overtly sexual, nevertheless Sam could feel her arousal beginning to build.

"Like many of the tribal cultures that still exist today, the Abydonian elders thought that sex, and impregnation in particular, were a battle of wills between the male and female bodies. If the tribe was to have any chance at survival, then it was necessary to somehow negate the tendency of the female body to reject the male seed."

Daniel's lips found her breast and the slowly rekindling arousal within her ignited into a fully fledged inferno of need and desire, rushing through her nervous system, heightening her senses as though he had poured an accelerant onto an open fire.

"What..." the word came out a breathy whisper as Sam fought against the tide of sensations that were now flooding through her body, sensations that she knew would eventually rob her of all coherent thought, "...what... did they... decide?"

Daniel's mouth stilled on her breast, the sound of him breaking the contact a soft pop as he pulled away in order to answer her. The cool morning air rushed over the area that he had vacated, causing a pleasurable tightness to engulf the sensitised nerve endings.

Sam let out a throaty moan.

"They decided that the only way for the male seed to be accepted was for the male to resist releasing it until the female had been thoroughly stimulated and satisfied. To that end they set about learning all the parts of a woman's body that led to orgasm, and they passed that knowledge down through the generations to every male in the tribe, myself included."

Daniel's mouth returned to her breast at the same time as his fingers hit a particularly erogenous part of her body, one she hadn't been aware of before. The result had her convulsing as though she had been electrocuted, the waves of release engulfing her in pleasurable delight as her voice called out his name in a hoarse whisper.

It took a while for the world around her to coalesce into something substantial again. Slowly she became aware of the sheen of perspiration that coated her skin, of the damp hair that was stuck to her nape and forehead. It took a moment longer before the aftershocks completely abated, until she was no longer able to feel the tiny frissons of spasm anymore.

Finally she was able to open her eyes, the world above her whirled upon its axis for a brief second before righting itself.

She found Daniel staring down at her.

"I thought a demonstration was in order, but I think I might have over done it."

A concerned look furrowed his brow.

She tried to raise her arm, so that she could curl her hand around his neck and pull him in for a kiss, but it felt as though it were made of lead and wouldn't do her bidding.

She settled for a lopsided smile.

"Are you okay, Sam?"

"Never better, Daniel. It's a pity that Anubis blew up Abydos, likewise that Oma had to ascend the whole tribe, I would have liked to have gone back and thanked them personally."

He took a moment to work out what she had meant, but when he did a smile broke out across his face.

"I guess I'll just have to settle on thanking you instead. Come here, Daniel."

They shared a brief kiss.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, you said something about breakfast?"

Daniel rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath about women, sex and food. He heaved himself off the bed and grabbed the phone, dialling down to room service to check on their breakfast order.

"They said it'll be another forty-five minutes, can you hold out that long?"

"That's fine, gives me a chance to have a bath."

"Care to share this time?"

It was Daniel's turn to shift a little uncomfortably as she let her eyes wander down the length of his body, coming to rest upon a particular part of his anatomy that seemed to be crying out for attention.

"Go run the bath, Daniel, I'll join you in a minute."

He smiled at her, stopping just long enough to deliver a tender kiss on the tip of her nose before making his way to the bathroom, pulling the door closed behind him.

A few seconds later she heard the sound of the water filling the bath.

She wasn't sure that his idea for them to have breakfast on the balcony was an entirely romantic one. She couldn't shift the thought that it might have had something to do with him not wanting to court anymore confrontation with Pritchard and his minions.

There was no doubt that if they had gone down to breakfast, Pritchard would have made a bee line for them, if only to gloat over the fact that he had probably won the Arthur Belmont award.

If Daniel wanted a little respite from his nemesis, who was she to deny him.

That didn't mean that she had to let the matter drop.

She took a moment to listen for any signs of Daniel returning to the room, but he seemed to be totally engaged in preparing their bathing arrangements. She pulled his shirt from under her and shrugged back into it, fastening a couple of the buttons to preserve what was left of her modesty.

She didn't want to make the call that she intended to make buck naked, not considering who it was she was going to be calling. She consulted her watch in order to figure out what time it was on the East Coast before moving over to the phone and dialling a number that she had very rarely used.

"General O'Neill's office."

"Could you put me through to the General please?"

"I'm afraid he has a very busy schedule today, could I tell him who is calling?"

"Tell him it's Lieutenant Colonel Carter."

"Hold on one moment."

During the long pause that followed, Sam nearly put the phone down, twice, but each time her mind reminded her of the things she had witnessed over the last twenty four hours and her resolve hardened.

"Hey, Carter."

"Hi, sir."

"So... how's it going?"

Sam's eyes travelled toward the bathroom door, her teeth nibbling nervously at her bottom lip. Turning her back to the door, she walked with the cordless phone over to the balcony window, hoping that the extra distance would mean that Daniel wouldn't easily overhear the conversation.

"I need a huge favour sir, actually more than one."

"For the purpose of?"

"I can't tell you."

"What kind of favours are we talking about,?" Sam knew that the General wasn't stupid, he only pretended to be when it suited him. Somehow he had picked up from her voice that he wasn't going to like what it was that he was going to be asked to provide.

Sam took a deep lungful of breath, hoping that it would take the edge off of the adrenaline that was surging through her body, making her heart thud like a jack hammer.

"The kind where you have plausible deniability, sir."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"It means the less you know the better."

"What happened, Carter?"

"Sir, I'd rather not say."

"Does this have anything to do with Daniel."

"I'm really not at liberty to..."

"Cut the bull, Carter, you're not fooling anyone, does this have anything to do with Daniel?"

She knew that Daniel wouldn't be agreeable if he knew what she was planning, she wasn't even sure of the sanity of it herself, but a part of her knew that she couldn't just walk away and let Pritchard ruin Daniel's academic future.

Briefly and as succinctly as she could she filled the General in on what had happened since their arrival in Hawaii and a brief outline of her plan for rectifying it.

With a few deliberate omissions.

O'Neill seemed to take an age to reply and with each second that went by she found herself staring back at the bathroom door. Daniel wasn't going to wait for her forever, sooner or later he was going to come looking for her.

"You know it wasn't your fault, right? You know that son of a bitch pushed you into a corner?" There was a softness to the General's voice, one she wasn't accustomed to. "You said that Daniel has already forgiven you, so why the hell can't you forgive yourself ?"

"I'm not going to allow Pritchard the satisfaction of using me to disprove Daniel's theory, a theory that you and I know is true. You weren't here, sir, you didn't see the level of contempt that Daniel is held in... and for what... for being right?"

"Carter, I know you're angry, but you need to take a step back and take a good long look at this."

"With all due respect, sir, that is the last thing I need to do."

"Look, Sam..." she blinked at the unfamiliar sound of her first name coming from the General's lips. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, in fact if the Joint Chiefs found out they'd have my ass in a sling, but you've kinda forced my hand." She heard him clear his throat as he stalled as long as he could to find the right words. "There's a promotions board coming up in a few weeks and your name is on the top of the list, you're practically a shoe in."

"For what, sir?"

Again there was a long silence.

"Full chicken Colonel and a command position."

She felt her stomach knot, felt the tendrils of tension squeeze it so tightly that she could hardly breathe.

"Thank you for letting me know, sir, I appreciate the head's up."

"But you're still planning on asking me for that favour, aren't you?"

"Yes, sir."

O'Neill sighed.

"It's Pegasus, Carter, it's the Atlantis Base."

She felt her fingers grip the phone a little harder than was necessary as her stomach plummeted toward the direction of her feet.

"It's a choice posting, one guaranteed to put you on the fast track for a nice shiny Brigadier General's star."

Pegasus.

They wanted her to take over Elizabeth Weir's billet on Atlantis, to take charge of not only the military detachment, but the scientific personnel as well. It was the second most sort after command, next to that of the SGC and she knew if she got the posting, it would mean that in a few years time she would more than likely head up the SGC itself.

"Take some cooling off time. Pritchard's not going anywhere, promise me you won't do anything rash until you have your Colonelcy under your belt, then if you still want to pay the bastard back, I'll give you what you need to do it."

"How long are we talking about?"

"Two or three months max to get the promotion through, another couple of months to smooth out the wrinkles for your move to Pegasus."

"I don't call that a cooling off period, sir, it sounds as though you're trying to put me in cold storage."

"You know what they say, Carter... revenge is a dish best served cold."

"I prefer my dishes hot."

O'Neill sighed again into the receiver.

"Just promise me you will think about it, this is a great opportunity to further your career and there's no one else I'd want heading up the Atlantis mission."

"I appreciate your faith in me, sir."

"I also don't want to see you jeopardise your career by giving into some crazy knee jerk reaction, that's usually my department, you're the level headed one."

She was torn, on the one hand she knew that the General was making perfect sense, but on the other it didn't feel right that she would have to postpone her chance to right a few wrongs with Pritchard.

"Carter?"

At that moment the door to the bathroom suddenly opened, a plume of steam heralding Daniel's arrival, his lower body wrapped in a plush bathroom towel.

"Hey, Sam, what's taking you so long?"

Sam raised a finger to her lips and gestured toward the telephone.

"Who are you talking to?"

She cupped a hand over the receiver so that the General wouldn't overhear.

"I'm just checking in, I'll be with you in a minute, Daniel."

"Don't be too long, that bathtub looks way too inviting and I might just have to start without you," a boyish grin spread across his lips, "and without that delectable body of yours to keep mine company, that would be no fun at all."

Sam ushered Daniel back into the bathroom with a wave of her hand, at the same time her mind was desperately hoping that the General hadn't heard that last part of their conversation.

"Hey, Carter... you still there?"

"I'm still here."

"So... do we have a deal?"

For one of the few times in her life she didn't know what to do, she had to admit that it was an unnerving experience. She was always used to being able to set her course in life and then be able to steer toward it, but now she found herself suddenly feeling uncharacteristically adrift.

"Look at it this way, Carter, you can use that five month window to talk Danny Boy around."

"Around to what?"

"Around to joining you on Atlantis, not that I think he'll take much convincing."

"Why do you say that?"

A small squadron of butterflies had suddenly taken up residence in her stomach.

Surely he didn't know?

"You know as well as I do that he's been dying to get his hands on all those Ancient thingamabobs, and he sulked for an entire month when Vala scuppered his last attempt to get there. So about that deal..."

"Okay, sir, I'll do it your way."

"Good, now go have some fun, that's an order."

"Yes, sir."

"Oh... and Carter...?"

"Sir...?"

"I shouldn't keep Daniel and that bathtub waiting too much longer."

With that the telephone line went dead, leaving Sam standing wide eyed and opened mouthed at the receiver.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 **

**U.S.S. Odyssey – Five months later...**

Colonel Samantha Carter took a moment to look around the bridge of the Odyssey, silently watching as her crew went about their work in the professional and economical manner that she had come to expect from those working aboard a frontline interstellar battle carrier.

Having only taken temporary command of the ship two days previously, she had been busily carrying out her orders, namely to give the vessel a through shakedown after the overhauling of its FTL systems.

Up until now she had carried out those orders to the letter, but now she was about to deviate from them. Only she and General O'Neill knew why she was aboard the Odyssey and if everything went according to plan then today would be the day when the ship began its real mission.

A mission that Sam had waited a long time to undertake.

Adjusting her position in the captain's chair, she swivelled to her right so that she could enter a series of command codes into the ship's array.

"Major Marks, if we're to completely test the Odyssey's new FTL drives we're going to have to take her out of the solar system. To that end I'm sending across revised co-ordinates for you to input into the navigational computer."

Her navigational officer consulted his consol, making a couple of minor adjustments to its interface.

"Co-ordinates have been entered and locked into the system, Colonel, we'll be ready to go on your mark."

Sam gave him a soft smile.

"Hopefully that shouldn't be too long. I'm just waiting on a last minute delivery."

"Ma'am?" Lieutenant Kearney's voice drew Sam's attention toward her communications officer. "I have an incoming message from Homeworld Security, it's Theta encoded, for the captain's eyes only."

Sam pushed herself up and out of the chair.

"Patch it through to my ready room, Lieutenant and then take us off the grid until further notice."

The unexpected request caused a look to pass between Marks and Kearney, but it only lasted a second before Kearney looked away and began sliding her fingers across a series of buttons on her screen.

"Communiqué being patched through now, Colonel," punching a key-code into the system Kearney looked back toward Major Marks, "I need your password sir so that the Odyssey can be taken off the grid?"

Without any hesitation Major Marks leaned across the consol and punched in his password. If he was curious about their sudden change of orders, he wasn't showing it.

"Confirmed. The Odyssey is now off the grid," Lieutenant Kearney turned back to her commanding officer, "we are now officially dark, ma'am."

Sam forced herself not to smile at the use of the military euphemism.

Dark meant 'covert' and it meant that the Odyssey's original shakedown mission had been upgraded to something else.

Something else entirely.

"Major Marks, you have the bridge."

Not waiting for his reply, Sam crossed the dozen or so steps to her ready room. Taking out an encrypted key-card from her breast pocket, she swiped it through the entrance panel.

The doors opened on a soft hiss, Sam crossed into the room and heard the doors softly close behind her, effectively sealing her from the rest of the bridge.

In keeping with its Asgard origins the room was minimalist and utilitarian by design, consisting of a forward consol upon which was housed an encrypted communications system that only a handful of people in the SGC knew how to operate.

Sam was one of the lucky few who knew how to read Nordic runes, thanks in part to Daniel's diligent teaching of the Viking language and her own innate curiosity about the Asgard race and their far superior technology.

Crossing to the consol, she picked up one of the opaque stones. The stone began to glow and softly pulsate in her hand. Peering at the runes that ran around the circumference of the consol, she pinpointed the one that she wanted and gently placed the stone upon it.

A bright shaft of light emitted from the stone, expanding to reveal a rectangular viewing screen. As the screen coalesced into a discernable picture, Sam could see the familiar face of her former commanding officer.

General O'Neill obviously hadn't been paying attention at his end of the secure line for when he appeared on screen he seemed to be in the midst of throwing scrunched up paper balls at an off screen target.

Sam softly cleared her throat.

It didn't seem to have any effect, O'Neill's attention seemed transfixed upon whatever it was that he was doing.

"Sir!"

The unexpected sound of her voice caused O'Neil's body to jerk suddenly, sending his latest projectile veering haphazardly off target. He cursed under his breath and turned to scowl at the monitor in front of him.

"Carter! Do you realise that you just ruined any chance I had of getting into the Guinness book of records!"

"Sorry sir, but I believe you have some news for me?"

O'Neil made a soft grunting noise in the back of his throat.

"I'm here to inform you that Operation Slimy Archaeologist is a go."

Sam didn't even try to hide her smile.

O'Neill's eyes narrowed at her response, his usual demeanour replaced by a thin veil of concern.

"Are you sure you still want to do this?" He made a motion with his head, his jaw jutting upward. "Those chickens look really good on you, Carter," he was referring to the pair of silver eagles that now adorned the collar tabs of her BDU jacket, "I'd hate to see them fly the coop."

"Don't worry, sir, I've taken all the necessary precautions."

O'Neill didn't look convinced.

"If you haven't, then Daniel's going to be more than just a little ticked off when he finds out that you're in a military stockade and he has to apply for visitation rights to see his fiancée."

Sam found her hand moving unconsciously toward where her engagement ring was securely attached to the chain of her dog-tags.

"Sir, we've been through this."

She couldn't hide the note of exasperation from entering her voice. Over the past few months this had become the most circular conversation she had ever had with her former CO, even though she knew that he had her best interests at heart.

"Just bear in mind, Colonel, that Pritchard rubs shoulders with the rich and famous on Capitol Hill." O'Neill ran a hand through his greying hair, his lips breaking on a soft sigh. "By comparison, your favour account is looking a little depleted right now, you've practically pulled in every one that is owed to you. If anything goes wrong, I'm not sure that I'll be able to pull your ass out of the fire."

"I'm grateful for your concern, sir, but you and I know that I have to be the one to do this."

"Do I?"

O'Neill's eyes narrowed sharply, something that she had seen them do time and time again in the many years that she had known him. It was a sign that he was getting frustrated and she knew the reason for that frustration was due entirely to her stubborn refusal to back down.

"Yes sir, you do."

"Do I have to remind you that he has already managed to outsmart you once before, which in and of itself is a scary thought?"

The reminder was unnecessary, she pretty much had the whole sorry episode memorised play by play in her head.

"I was at a disadvantage in Hawaii, my hands were tied and he backed me into a corner. He won't have that same luxury again. Besides, you know what they say sir... fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me."

O'Neill sighed softly, this time in resignation.

"I'm just asking you to be careful, Sam."

He didn't use her first name very often and when he did she always knew that he did it for emphasis.

He was genuinely worried for her.

"I'll be careful, sir." Sam waited a beat before continuing. "So, can I take it that you have him?"

O'Neill's mouth pulled up in a wry smile.

"He's in our sights, Carter, he's in our sights." O'Neill's glance turned away from her to consult another screen that was out of view. "SG-3 have him lit up brighter than the Times Square Christmas tree."

"SG-3?" Sam's eyes widened in surprise. "You sent Colonel Reynolds after him?"

O'Neill shrugged his shoulders.

"The clandestine nature of this little operation meant that I had to send in someone that I trusted and I trust Reynolds and his team implicitly, despite the fact that they're marines."

Sam couldn't help but agree.

Colonel Reynolds and his team had proven themselves time and time again, pulling SG-1's butt out of the fire on more than one occasion and it had been SG-3 that had found a disorientated Daniel on Vis Uban.

For that feat alone, SG-3 would always have Sam's undying gratitude.

"I've got T-Minus seven minutes and counting." O'Neill's voice broke her from her musings. "It'll take that long for the satellite to be in position, then I can send your people the co-ordinates and you can you do that funky Asgard teleportation thing on him."

"Where exactly is he, sir?"

"Don't worry, he's alone, in that swanky hotel room of his, prepping for his keynote speech to the Smithsonian." O'Neill looked at her, a hint of mischief sparkling in his eyes. "Boy is he going to be pissed when you yank him out of there!" O'Neill glance away from her and back to the other monitor. "So where do you want him delivered, Carter?"

"Oh, how about somewhere off the port bow," O'Neill's head shot back toward her monitor, his eyes widening in horror. Sam smiled at him, letting him know that her murderous comment was merely a joke and that she intended no harm toward the arrogant archaeologist, " How about the briefing room on level six, I think that should do quite nicely."

O'Neill nodded.

"Give me five minutes, then the smug SOB's all yours."

"Thank you, sir."

"Good luck, Carter."

Sam nodded, her hand reaching toward the communication stone.

"Odyssey out."

She cut the connection, returning the communication stone to its original place on the consol.

She exhaled sharply.

The last five months had been an exercise in patience and there had been times when she had thought that this moment would never arrive.

In a few weeks time she wouldn't even be in the same galaxy as Pritchard, so if she was going to put right the injustice that had been done on that night in Hawaii, and the part that she had played in it, she had to act now.

Pivoting around, she headed for the door, her footsteps carrying her toward the elevator that would take her down to the briefing room.

"Major Marks, in approximately five minutes you will receive an encoded transmission from Homeworld Security. Follow the instructions and transport the package to the briefing room on level six. Then I want you to purge all the data from the transporter log."

"I'm sorry, Colonel, but did you say purge the data?"

Marks was looking at her with incredulity in his eyes.

"You heard correct, Major, purge the data from the transporter's mainframe, along with the backup files." Sam could see that Marks was uncomfortable with the order, but she had expected that. He was a good man and a very good officer and as such there would be times when he'd feel the need to clarify orders that he didn't fully understand. She had done the same, if truth be told, under O'Neill's command, she had done it more times than she liked to admit. "Major, I need to know if we have a problem here because if we do then you need to excuse yourself before this mission gets underway."

Marks swallowed softly as he contemplated her words.

He shook his head.

"We don't have a problem, ma'am, I'll purge the systems once the data has been decoded and the package safely delivered."

Sam nodded a silent 'thank you' in his direction.

"Lieutenant Kearney, have a security detail meet me at the briefing room.

"Aye, ma'am."

Four minutes later Sam was seated at the head of the briefing room table.

In front of her was a manila folder,beside it, encased in what looked to be an aluminium briefcase were data files containing some of the most incredible missions that she had ever undertaken, along with Daniel's ubiquitous archive camera footage.

Outside the room four members of the ship's security detail stood flanking the doorway, which had been sealed on her command.

Sam consulted her watch.

"Three... Two... One..."

As expected, an incandescent flash of light filled the briefing room causing Sam to raise her hand in an attempt to shield her eyes from the sudden all encompassing brightness.

Then, with his back turned toward her, Doctor Adam Pritchard, chair of the society of archaeologists, recent winner of the prestigious Arthur Belmont award, appeared within the transporter's beam.

"...esteemed guests and learned fellows... it is with great pleasure that I..."

It was obvious that he had been in the midst of rehearsing his keynote speech, his mind no doubt focused upon memorising the words that he had scribbled upon the small heap of white index cards that he held in his hand. For a moment he continued on, his mind unable or more likely unwilling to disseminate what had suddenly happened to him, but when it did, his voice came to a stuttering halt and the cards in his hand spilled in a silent cascade toward the floor.

"What the hell...?"

"Welcome aboard the Odyssey, Doctor Pritchard."

He started at the unexpected sound of her voice, turning so suddenly toward her that he almost overbalanced in his haste. He threw out an unsteady hand toward one of the chairs, curling his fingers around it so that he could stop himself from pitching forward, using its solidity to steady himself.

His equilibrium caught up with the reality of the situation much faster than the rest of his body, his eyes and brain caught in a kind of time lag as they tried to play catch up. When his moment of recognition did arrive and he finally recognised who had addressed him, his eyes bugged out so much that Sam had to wonder just how they were staying within the confines of their sockets.

"You!"

The contemptuous way in which he spat out the word, combined with the flare of anger that erupted in his eyes, told her that he hadn't forgotten their last encounter, nor the way in which it had ended.

"What's the meaning of this?" His eyes darted away from hers, taking in his new surroundings, flitting from item to item in the room as though he were trying to find a point of reference, something familiar with which he could begin to understand what had happened to him. "How did I get here?"

"I brought you here."

"How?" He glanced with confusion around the room once more. "How can I be in my hotel room one moment and here the next?"

"All in good time, Doctor Pritchard."

He turned heated eyes upon her.

"What the hell is that suppose to mean, Doctor Carter?"

Sam leaned forward in her chair, letting her hands come down to rest upon the manila file folder.

"It's Colonel Carter, and it means that I'll answer your questions when I'm good and ready. In the meantime I suggest that you take a seat because we have a lot to discuss."

His eyes dropped from her face to take in her uniform, his gaze sweeping over the BDU's with such distaste that she began to suspect that he held those in the military with about as much regard as something nasty that he picked up on the sole of his shoe.

"So you lied when you said that you were an astrophysicist?"

"I didn't lie to you, Doctor Pritchard, I just didn't tell you the whole truth."

His gaze travelled over her uniform again, slowly, deliberately, his face contorting into a sneer.

"This rather masculine look does nothing for you, my dear. I much prefer you in that little crimson number that you were barely wearing when last we met, but it does serve to shed some light on a few things."

"Such as?"

"How someone as wholly dysfunctional as Daniel Jackson could turn up with such a beautiful woman on his arm, but then again looks can be deceiving, can't they."

Sam could feel her ire begin to bubble to the surface.

"What is that suppose to mean?"

"I believe the military have a term for it... don't ask... don't tell?" Pritchard smirked. "I believe it has something to do with the sexual orientation of its personnel."

Sam felt her jaw tighten at his insult. Pritchard obviously noticed it too for the corners of his lips turned up in a smug smile at scoring an easy point at her expense.

It wasn't as though she hadn't had that line thrown at her once or twice before, usually by chauvinistic assholes just like him who found a woman in uniform intimidating.

Even so, coming from Pritchard's lips made it grate all the more, that and the fact that he was still taking cheap shots at Daniel, even though he wasn't there to defend himself.

"The nature of my relationship with Daniel is private and I'll thank you not to make assumptions regarding my sexuality based upon nothing more than your prejudiced opinions."

"Spoken like a true feminist," his lips quirked upward into a condescending smirk, "then again I believe that feminism is the default political viewpoint of women of your ilk."

"Quite frankly, Pritchard, I don't give a damn what you think." This time Sam didn't dial back the ire that had been steadily simmering inside her, but let it infuse her words. "Let's get one thing straight though, we're not in Hawaii anymore, surrounded by sycophantic cronies hanging upon your every word, so stop the grandstanding because there isn't an audience to play to this time. This time you're going to play by my rules, are we clear?" Sam nodded to one of the empty chairs. "Now shut the hell up and sit down!"

"How dare you!" Pritchard's right hand curled into a fist at his side. "How dare you presume to talk to me like that... like I'm some military underling at your command. What right have you to bring me here... against my will? I don't know how you did it, but I demand to be taken back to my hotel room. I have a very important speech to prepare."

"Your apologies have already been made to the Smithsonian, it would seem that you have come down with a particularly nasty case of stomach flu."

"What!" Pritchard's face reddened with outrage. "You can't do that!"

"I have." Sam informed him, letting her voice convey some of the satisfaction that she felt at being able to finally put one over on him. "It's done."

"You bitch!"

Pritchard's anger propelled him forward, one hand coming up as though he was preparing to strike her.

Slowly Sam got to her feet, taking a couple of steps away from the table, giving herself some extra room to manoeuvre.

"Go ahead, try it!" She gave him a steely look. "Believe me there's nothing I'd like more than to have an excuse to dump you on your ass."

The conviction in her voice, combined with the beckoning tilt of her head seemed to make Pritchard think twice about his course of action.

His forward momentum abruptly ceased.

"I demand to speak to your commanding officer."

"You're looking at her."

Pritchard's eyes widened, a sceptical look passing within their depths.

"That's preposterous, you're but a mere Colonel."

"Well, this mere Colonel is in charge of everything you see."

"All I see is this room."

"And that's all you're going to see until you sit the hell down and do as I say."

Pritchard huffed an exasperated sigh, pivoting around to face the door and promptly stalked off toward it.

"Airman Welles..." Sam hollered.

There was slight hissing sound as the door's seal was disengaged, then it slid open to reveal Senior Airman Simon Wells.

"Colonel..."

"Are you equipped with zip cuffs?"

He gave her a puzzled look.

"Yes ma'am."

"Should Doctor Pritchard take one further step toward that door, you and Airman Collins are to apprehend him and return him to the conference table. There, you have my permission to zip cuff him by his hands and feet to one of the chairs, do you understand, Airman?"

Airman Wells looked toward Pritchard and then back at his commanding officer.

"Yes, Colonel."

"Good."

Sam turned her attention back toward the recalcitrant archaeologist.

"Now, Doctor Pritchard, are you going to take that seat willingly or am I going to have to have the airmen hogtie you?"

Pritchard's eyes were still on Airman Wells, but then he looked over his shoulder as the formidable bulk of Senior Airman Collins strode into the room, taking up most of the doorway with his frame.

Reluctantly, he turned back around.

"It would appear that I don't have much of a choice."

With that he walked toward the nearest chair, pulled it out and promptly sat down upon it.

Sam nodded toward the airmen.

"That will be all... go back to your posts."

"Yes ma'am."

As the airmen left, they resealed the door behind them.

"It looks like you have your captive audience, Colonel." He gave her a defiant look. "You obviously have a reason for doing all this... so why don't you just tell me and get it over with, but first I want to know where I am and how the hell I got here?"

Sam returned to her own chair and eased herself down into it. Her hands moved to the manila folder in front of her. Opening the cover, she extracted a single sheet of A4 paper and slid it across the table toward Pritchard.

"Before we continue I want you to read and sign that."

Pritchard picked up the sheet of paper and gazed at it speculatively.

"What is it?"

"It's a non-disclosure agreement, but it's not your common garden variety, this one covers items deemed above top-secret."

"Above top-secret, how very Ian Fleming of you."

The sarcasm was back, but this time she let it pass.

Sam reached into the inside pocket of her BDU jacket and extracted a pen, placing on the table before them.

"Believe me, what I aim to show you certainly comes within that category."

Pritchard looked at her for a long moment, but when he realised that she wasn't about to elaborate, his gaze went back to the document. He began to read it with slow deliberation until finally his hand reached for the pen.

Sam's hand came down to rest over his, the archaeologist's eyes rose to meet hers.

"Think carefully about what you're signing, Doctor Pritchard, because once you've committed your name to it, you'll be as bound by the same rules and regulations as Daniel has been."

"Jackson's signed one of these?"

Sam shook her head.

"No, but it's because of Doctor Jackson that you're signing one."

"What is that suppose to mean?"

Sam answered his question with a knowing look and a raised eyebrow.

"A word of warning... don't think about signing it and then reneging on it. If you so much as divulge a single iota of the information that I'm about to impart to your, you'll find yourself incarcerated in a place so far underground that even your vaulted society of archaeologists would have a tough time digging you out."

"Is that a threat, Colonel?"

Sam smiled sweetly at him.

"No threat, Doctor Pritchard, just a statement of fact."

"And should I choose not to sign the document?"

"You'll sign the document," Sam deliberately let her eyes wander toward the door. "I believe Airman Collins can be very persuasive. It'll be only a matter of time."

Pritchard swallowed deeply.

"Oh... in case you weren't sure... that was a threat."

She couldn't in good conscious intimidate him into signing the form, but if he didn't, then she was screwed and that military stockade that the General had mentioned earlier would be a reality.

She had to hope that he wouldn't call her bluff.

A long and agonising moment passed.

Then Pritchard picked up the pen and signed the form with an exaggerated flourish.

"I've signed your goddamn secrecy document, so now tell me what I want to know."

Sam sat back in her seat and resisted the urge to let out the breath that she had been holding, instead she inhaled softly.

"You're aboard the USS Odyssey."

"The USS what?"

"Odyssey... as in Odysseus's return from the Trojan Wars."

"There is no such ship!"

"Not presently at sea, no," Sam let a small smile play across her lips, "but then again we're not exactly at sea."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Sam's right hand moved to the communication bud in her ear.

"Major Marks, bring us about ninety degrees to starboard."

"Who are you talking to?"

"My navigational officer, if you'd care to look out the window it will go a long way to answering the first part of your question."

"What goddamn window?"

Sam touched a button that was housed on a concealed panel embedded into the edge of the conference table. The starboard bulkhead suddenly transformed from what looked like an opaque metallic wall into a large picture window.

"My apologies... that window."

Pritchard's eyes did a good rendition of bugging out of his sockets again and his jaw almost dropped low enough to impact the table.

"Are those stars?"

"Yes they are, but that's not the reason why you're looking out the window."

The Odyssey's inertial dampeners meant that the ship could practically turn on a dime without any sensation being felt onboard. At the moment, with the ships engines disengaged, all Marks had to do was fire a few bursts from the piloting thrusters to get the ship to turn to the requested heading.

Slowly, the vessel turned and as it did so, the view in the briefing room window changed, turning from a fathomless field of distant stars to one that slowly revealed Planet Earth in all its majestic glory.

Sam eyes strayed from the view that she had become so familiar with over the years and watched the awe wash over Pritchard's face.

"The USS Odyssey is an Earth Deep Space Carrier, in layman's terms... you could call her an interstellar spacecraft with the capability to house up to three space going fighter wings. At present we are in a geo-synchronous orbit around the Earth. As to how you got here? You were beamed up from the Earth's surface using technology that was given to us from a benevolent alien race."

Pritchard got out of his seat and walked slowly toward the window, his eyes rapt with fascination as he watched the Earth do a lazy turn upon its axis.

"This is impossible."

Pritchard's hand reached out and touched the window as though he were almost expecting to see a projection of the Earth dance across the back of his hand.

"No, Doctor Pritchard, what you are seeing is very real."

He shook his head in denial.

"This can't be real... it's some kind of ruse... a fabrication... we're on some kind of movie set."

"I can assure you that it's not a movie set. You'll see that for yourself shortly, but compared with what else I have to show you, it's small change."

He turned back to face her, the earlier awe that she had seen on his face now replaced with undiluted scepticism.

"I don't believe you."

"I'm telling you the truth."

He shook his head vehemently.

"I'm not that gullible, Colonel. I don't know what game you're playing or why you're playing it, but I'm not buying it."

"Doctor Pritchard... I assure you."

"Do you take me for a fool." His eyes locked with hers. "You just told me that I was beamed aboard this vessel, or whatever the hell it is, using some kind of alien device, but you admitted it yourself, Colonel... in Hawaii... that aliens do not exist."

"I lied."

"You lied,"

"Yes, out of necessity."

Pritchard snorted loudly.

"Oh please... next you'll be telling me that Jackson was right all along and that the pyramids were the alien landing sites that he claimed them to be."

"They were."

Pritchard's passive scepticism sudden turned into a torrent of anger.

"Stop playing fucking mind games with me, Colonel Carter, stop trying to make me believe that that delusional wrack job was telling the truth."

"He was telling the truth, what's more I can prove it!" Sam had just about had enough of hearing Pritchard refer to Daniel and his theories in such a derogatory manner. "He's no more delusional than you are. His theories were sound, his hypothesis right on the money. His research infallible. I should know... I took the time to read it, which is more than I can say for you and your damn precious society of archaeologists."

"Which begs the question, Colonel, are you as deranged as your friend?"

"I brought you here so that I could show you the truth, a truth that is long overdue and kept secret by reason of necessity. Daniel could quite easily have told you everything that night in Hawaii, he could have backed it up with his research, with everything he has learned over the last decade that vindicates his work. He couldn't because even though his work has been vindicated, it has to be kept a secret and because it was my job that night to make sure that it stayed that way."

"What do you mean?"

"Daniel and I work for a top secret military project. That project wouldn't have seen the light of day if it hadn't been for Daniel and his hypothesis. Aliens do exist, Doctor Pritchard, and they've been around a lot longer than you could possibly imagine. They've left an indelible print upon our very existence and they continue to do so... in some of the furthest reaches of this and other galaxies."

"You really are starting to sound as delusional as Daniel. Am I suppose to take you at your word?"

"Of course not, which is why we're going on a little trip."

"A trip?" Pritchard's eyes glanced warily toward the picture window. "What kind of trip?"

Sam raised her hand toward her communication earpiece.

"Major Marks, spool up the FTL drives and lock in the co-ordinates for the Alpha Site."

"The Alpha Site?" Pritchard intoned worriedly.

"Don't worry...," Sam gave him a smile, one filled with beaming confidence, "as interstellar travel goes, it's merely a hop, a skip and a jump away."

Pritchard's face paled, which was quite a feat considering the deepness of his permanent tan. He turned to look out the window, just in time to see the Earth slipping past the window as the ship turned toward its new co-ordinates.

"You mean we're..."

"You wanted to know what Daniel has been up to these past ten years, well I'm going to show you, but it's going to take a while to get there." Sam's hand came down to rest lightly upon the aluminium briefcase. "You have my word that you won't get bored because I've got plenty of in flight entertainment to keep you occupied."

"You can't just take me..."

"By the time you get to the Alpha Site, you'll know more than you'll want to know and like the rest of us you'll be bound to keep it a secret." Sam paused as she listened in her earpiece as Marks informed her that the FTL drives had spooled up and a hyper-drive window was establishing. "Our little trip doesn't end when we get to our destination, in fact, reaching the Alpha Site is where your adventure truly begins. Once there, we're going to take a walk on the wild side, through a device called a Stargate. You needn't worry, the Stargate is my field of expertise and I'm going to make sure you know exactly how it works... right down to the sub-atomic level."

Pritchard swallowed nervously.

Sam knew that she was enjoying herself a little too much at Pritchard's expense, but try as she might, she couldn't seem to rustle up a single iota of contrition.

"You need to turn this thing around.

"No can do I'm afraid. You couldn't possibly imagine the paper work that's involved whenever there's an abortive mission."

Okay, she had to admit that that had sounded a little too much like the General for comfort.

Outside the picture window, a hyperspace window began to form and Pritchard's eyes widened with terror.

"You can't just take me..."

"Oh, but I can, Doctor Pritchard," Sam listened as Major Marks informed her that the FTL drives were at maximum before turning her attention back to the now panicked archaeologist, "and when we're finished I'm going to have the satisfaction of watching you apologise to Daniel for everything that you put him through in Chicago and Hawaii, you sorry son of a bitch!"

Pritchard's eyes widened with the certain understanding that he had no control over what was about to happen.

"Punch it, Major!" Sam gave the archaeologist a knowing look. "You might want to grab a hold of something, Pritchard, otherwise you might find yourself..."

The Odyssey's FTL drives engaged, catapulting the ship into the hyperspace window that had opened around it.

Pritchard, not expecting the sudden and violent acceleration of the ship, was catapulted backward. He stumbled, his legs slipping out from beneath him, sending him hurtling toward the floor to land unceremoniously...

"... on your ass." Sam finished rather unnecessarily, biting back the broad grin that threatened to plaster itself across her face.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N I realise that this has been a long time coming, and I aplogise for the long wait, but I had to get it to a point whereby I was happy to post it. It's been through a lot of rewrites, but finally I think it is right. I hope you all like it. Don't worry there are two more chapters to go and I've already written the last chapter, I've just got to write the penultimate one and I promise it isn't going to be so long in coming. Please, please, please let me know what you think.**

**Enjoy!**

**Pariah**

**Chapter 12 **

Daniel gently loosened the impacted earth from around the object that he had been diligently excavating for the last few hours. With a slight sucking sound, the dirt encrusted item came free from the place where it had lain undisturbed, sending a small cloud of reddish dust billowing into the air.

Daniel sneezed violently.

"Bless you, Doctor Jackson."

Daniel shifted slightly in his cramped position, casting a gaze over his shoulder toward his assistant.

"Thank you, Nyan."

"You're welcome." Nyan handed him a small handled brush and watched as the archaeologist gently, but deftly began to remove the encrusted dirt from the object in his hand. "What do you think it is?"

"Well, it's not linked to the main burial chamber that's for sure," Daniel turned the item over and proceeded to brush away the dirt from that side, which only served to confirm his earlier statement, " for one thing, it isn't ostentatious enough to have belonged to a Goa'uld. My guess is that it belonged to one of the workers engaged in the chambers construction."

"Should I mark it down as a significant find?"

Daniel smiled.

"Nyan, at this point we classify everything that we find as significant, even down to the lowliest item. Everything that we excavate is like a small piece of a giant jigsaw puzzle, the fun begins when we start to put all the pieces together." He continued cleaning the item as he spoke, flaking off small chunks of encrusted soil to reveal the sandstone coloured base of what appeared to be an ornamental bowl. As he finished the initial cleaning process he handed the item off to Nyan, "Make sure to have Doctor Grayson take a look at it, he's cataloguing all the findings relating to the workers."

Nyan pulled himself up and out of the trench, dusting himself down as he prepared to take the latest finds back to the other members of the excavation team situated on the far side of the dig site.

With a little more room to manoeuvre, now that Nyan had vacated the trench, Daniel took a moment to ease himself from his somewhat cramped position. He winced as the joints and tendons in his back and neck began their almost daily protest.

There was no way that he was going to admit to himself that he might be getting a little too old for this.

Best to put it down to just being out of practice.

Ignoring his discomfort, he pulled out a dusty bandana from the back pocket of his BDU's.

"Nyan..."

"Yes, Doctor Jackson?"

"Have SG-9 and Doctor Grayson set up the portable x-ray machine?"

Nyan nodded his head.

"SG-9 were in the process of installing it when I left to come over here. It should be fully functioning by now."

Daniel used the bandana to clean the dirt and sweat from his face before tying it around his neck. Boosting himself out of the trench, he stood beside Nyan and squinted in the direction of the field tent in the distance.

"Everyone knows that none of the canopic jars we found in the burial chamber are to be taken back through the Stargate until they have been x-rayed, right?"

"Yes, Doctor Jackson, you were very specific about that point." A worried look passed across Nyan's face. "Do you think that there might be a problem?"

"No, not a problem. I just don't want any nasty surprises. It's pretty unusual to find a Goa'uld inhabited planet this far out of their usual sphere of influence. What we've found so far points toward this planet being an outpost of some kind, probably mined extensively for its Naquada deposits, at least that was the case until the deposits ran out. There's some indication of Sekhmet's influence here, but there is no Royal Palace and the main burial chamber seems to have belonged to a lower dignitary, an ambassador or emissary of some kind." Daniel ran a hand through his dusty hair. "Don't look so worried, Nyan, I'm sure I'm just being overly cautious. I just don't want a repeat performance of the Osiris incident."

"I understand, Doctor Jackson. I believe there is an Earth saying that seems to fit this situation. 'It's best to be safe than sorry.' "

Daniel chuckled softly.

"Those Earth clichés are really coming along, aren't they?"

"General O'Neill bought me a calendar for the festivity that you call Christmas that had a new quote for every day of your Earth year."

Daniel was just about to comment on Jack's taste in Christmas presents when his radio crackled into life.

"Doctor Jackson, this is Sergeant Haines, just to let you know that the Stargate has just activated. I think it might be your requisition order, sir?"

"Already, that's pretty quick. I only put the order in yesterday. I just hope that they remembered the coffee this time?"

"Hallelujah to that, sir." Sergeant Haines replied.

"Okay, Nyan and I are heading back to the field tent, we have a couple of things that need dropping off... oh and Haines..."

"Sir?"

"If it is my requisition... I'm bagging the first cup of coffee."

"Trust me sir, a whole platoon of Marines wouldn't dream of standing in your way." Haines responded with just a trace of humour in his voice.

Daniel knew that he had been uncharacteristically cranky of late, especially in the mornings when he had needed his caffeine fix to kick start his day. From Haines' comment it was obvious that the rest of the expedition team were aware of it too. He just hoped that the commissary had had the good sense to send through the good stuff.

Actually if he were truly honest with himself, it wasn't only the coffee he was missing.

He was missing Sam.

A lot.

When this assignment had come up, he had jumped at the chance. After all when was the last time that he had had the opportunity to oversee the complete excavation of a dig site?

Not since Egypt.

Not since before he had joined the Stargate programme.

That little side show on Chaka's planet didn't count, he'd spent most of it trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey and didn't actually get much chance to excavate anything.

He had been excited by the thought of putting his skills as an archaeologist to the test once more, that was until it had dawned on him that he would have to be apart from Sam.

That had put a sizable dent in his enthusiasm.

The change in their relationship had progressed quickly taking both of them by surprise.

Of course he had known for a very long time that he loved her, but he had never for one moment entertained the thought that she could ever have loved him back.

His confession in Hawaii had changed all that.

And then some.

Sometimes he found it hard to believe that in just a few weeks he was going to be stationed with her on Atlantis, not only were they going to be in another galaxy together, but prior to their embarkation they were going to be married.

Soon they were going to start a completely new chapter of their lives together.

Of course that didn't stop him from missing her now.

He had even tried to convince her to come along, telling her that she could treat it as a vacation. She'd once told him that she would have liked to be a part of a dig, just to see what it was like, but he hadn't been able to persuade her.

Instead she was off somewhere on the Odyssey.

He missed waking up with her, missed that special feeling he got every morning when he realised that it wasn't a dream anymore, but a reality.

He missed being able to hold her in his arms, to kiss her awake, to watch those beautiful blue eyes of hers go from sleepy to aroused. He wanted to hear that sound she made when she...

The radio at his shoulder gave a loud shriek of static before it squawked into life, breaking Daniel from his wayward thoughts.

"Ah... Doctor Jackson?" Sergeant Haines voice sounded strained, which wasn't a good sign. He made a mental bet with himself that he would be going without coffee again.

"What's up, sergeant?"

"Ah, sir, Colonel Dixon wants to know your ETA?"

Daniel stopped dead in his tracks and stared down at the handset on his shoulder.

"Did you say Colonel Dixon? As in SG-13?"

"That's an affirmative, sir."

Daniel squinted in the bright sunlight toward the Stargate, situated a few hundred metres away from their main camp. He could just make out the silhouettes of a group of people standing at the base of the dais, the drab olive of their BDUs clearly marking them out as SGC personnel.

The FRED was conspicuously absent.

Daniel's heart sank.

Oh crap.

"Sir, do you have an ETA?" Sergeant Haines insisted, no doubt due to the hard glare that Col. Dave Dixon was giving him at that moment.

"I'll be with you in a couple of minutes."

"Copy."

Daniel turned to his assistant.

"Nyan, I'm going to see what's up. You take the artefacts back to Doctor Grayson and help him get started on the cataloguing."

"As you wish Doctor Jackson."

Nyan scuttled away toward the field tent as Daniel continued toward the Stargate.

He took a moment to look more carefully at the silhouettes of the new arrivals, wondering as he did so why the SGC would have found it necessary to send another team to the planet.

As he closed the distance something struck him as odd.

SG-13 seemed to consist of six team members instead of the usual four, that was unusual to say the least and it put Daniel's nerves on edge.

What the hell was going on?

Colonel Dave Dixon was easy to make out, even from a distance. Like Jack, he had that aura of command. Beside him were the rest of his team, Senior Airman Simon Wells, Lieutenant Bosworth and the archaeologist Dr. Balinsky. Much to Daniel's relief, their casual body language seemed to indicate that nothing bad was looming, in fact they all looked rather languid and relaxed, although they did look a little green around the gills.

By contrast, sitting almost sprawled upon the steps of the dais was a figure that Daniel didn't recognise, which was partly due to the fact that his BDU's made him look pretty much like every other member of Stargate Command.

The poor guy didn't look comfortable though and as he hauled himself upright, he let out an audible groan, followed almost instantaneously by his body slumping sideways across the dais steps so that he could vomit into the tall undergrowth.

Daniel couldn't help wincing in sympathy.

The guy's obvious distress prompted the final member of Dixon's team to move into action, breaking away from the knot of people around the Colonel to move with purpose toward the stricken man.

Daniel's eyes widened in disbelief.

Wait a minute...

He knew that long legged, confident stride. The way that body posture could look both at ease and ready to strike in an instant.

"Sam!"

At the sound of his voice, she turned, her eyes taking a moment to track and focus on him.

Her lips turned up in a broad smile.

"Hey, Daniel."

Daniel rapidly closed the distance between them.

He had to admit that even in BDU's she looked good. More than anything he wanted to reach out and take a hold of her, to pull her close and hug her tight. He wanted to let her know how much he had missed her, but he knew it was out of the question. It would have been highly inappropriate to show such unprofessional behaviour, so he deliberately shoved his hands in his pockets so that they wouldn't get him into trouble.

"This is a surprise?"

Sam tracked the movement of his hands, the side of her mouth twitching up slightly as she realised the reason behind it. They shared a long look, each of them using that unvoiced communication that they had developed over the years to fill in the words that they couldn't convey.

"Why aren't you on the Odyssey?" Daniel asked.

At his comment, Sam looked away, her gaze shifting back and forth between him and the impacted earth at her feet. She looked decidedly uncomfortable, which was something that Daniel couldn't ever remember seeing before.

Uncomfortable and a little uncertain.

"Uh... well... you see, Daniel, the thing is..."

"Jackson... my God... it really is you?"

Daniel felt the blood drain from his face at the sound of that voice, a voice that he had hoped he would never hear again. His eyes left Sam's and settled on the figure now sitting upright at the base of the dais.

"Adam?"

The figure dressed in olive BDU's lifted his head, his face a considerable few shades lighter than its normal well tanned hue.

"Oh, God... I think I'm going to be sick again."

The tall figure of Colonel Dixon moved toward Pritchard. "Bet you don't think that the Stargate is a Hollywood prop now, do you Professor?" The Colonel placed his hand upon the archaeologist's head. "Suck it up, Pritchard, just stick your head between your knees, take a few deep breaths and the nausea will go away."

"Oh, that's easy for you to say," Pritchard answered unsteadily between a bout of dry retching, "your kind don't care that they've just had every atom in their body deconstructed and reconstituted."

"Oh our kind care," Dixon replied sourly, his demeanour darkening at the other man's denigrating tone. "but we've got a job to do, protecting jumped up little ingrates like you, so we do it every day anyway and twice on Sunday's."

The Colonel gave Pritchard a none too gentle pat on the back of the head before moving away to rejoin his team.

"Adam... what the hell are you doing here?"

"Ask her..." Pritchard jabbed an unsteady hand in Sam's direction, "she's the one who abducted me."

Daniel turned incredulous eyes toward Sam.

"You did what...?"

Sam held up a placating hand.

"Daniel... listen... it wasn't like that..."

"Then what would you call it, Colonel." Pritchard forced himself up into a standing position, swaying slightly with the movement. "One minute I was in my hotel room and the next I'm on that... that ... ship of yours."

"You beamed him aboard the Odyssey!"

Without waiting to hear anymore, Daniel marched over to where she stood, taking a hold of her arm and walking her a little distance away from Dixon and his men, not wanting them to overhear the conversation they were about to have.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Have you completely lost your mind?" He pointed toward Pritchard who, although still a little unsteady on his feet, had made his way to the DHD and was pondering it with a puzzled expression on his face. "Are you trying to ruin your career?"

"It's okay, I've got it covered."

"You've got it covered!" Daniel ran an exasperated hand through his hair. "He dines with Senators, he lunches with Congressmen. He's not going to let you get away with this, the minute he gets back he is going to do everything he can to have you court marshalled."

Sam shook her head.

"He's signed a full non-disclosure document and he knows that if he so much as utters one word of what he's seen, he's going to spend the rest of his miserable life incarcerated in a cell at Area 51."

"I thought we were past this, Sam?"

He tried to reign in some of his anger. He knew why she had done this, it was because of Hawaii, because of what had happened there. It didn't matter how many times he had told her to the contrary, she still believed that his expulsion was somehow her fault.

"In a couple of weeks we'll be in the Pegasus Galaxy and Pritchard and everything that happened in Hawaii will be behind us."

"Don't you see that's why..." Sam rested her hand upon his arm, a soothing gesture that did little at that moment to give him any comfort. "Unlike you, I can't just walk away and leave everything unresolved. I was the one that had to stand by and watch you humiliated in front of me. That son of a bitch used me as a weapon against you, it was me that discredited your theory, it was up to me to set the record straight and I have."

Daniel's eyes narrowed.

"What have you told him?"

"I've told him everything. He knows the truth, Daniel. I've shown him all the archived evidence pertaining to Abydos and Ra. I left out the private stuff, he doesn't know about Sha're, but he knows that it was your theories that made the Stargate programme possible. At least now that arrogant bastard knows that you were right all along."

"I don't believe this..." Daniel shook his head and took a couple of steps away from her, his thoughts in a turmoil. Then abruptly he turned back around and pinned her with his gaze. "Just how in hell did you manage to pull this off?"

Sam shrugged.

"What's the point of being owed favours if you can't cash them in every now and then..," a thoughtful, but melancholic look crossed her face, "...although I hadn't anticipated General O'Neill having to cash in most of his too."

"I should have known," Daniel's voice held a tinge of anger within it, "this whole scenario has Jack's name written all over it."

Sam shook her head vehemently.

"You can't blame the General, Daniel, this wasn't his idea. In fact, for the last five months he's been doing his best to talk me out of it."

"I wish he had because you're still standing on some pretty thin ice, Sam." He turned away and watched Pritchard as he moved around the base of the dais. He was looking better and he even seemed to be curious about the workings of the Stargate and the DHD. "Do you really trust him not to say anything?"

"He knows the consequences if he does. I made them blatantly clear to him."

Sam came up to stand next to him and despite Dixon and his men still being in close proximity, she slipped her hand inside his, her fingers softly entwining with his own. It was the first time they had touched each other in weeks and Daniel immediately felt the connection between them re-establish itself.

He could tell that she needed some reassurance, some sign from him that even though he didn't agree with what she had done, that they were okay. He turned to face her, letting her see through his eyes that he was prepared to forgive her.

"Promise me you won't take it in your head to go out on a limb like that again?"

Sam sucked in her bottom lip and gave him a sad, but knowing look.

"You know that I can't make you that promise, Daniel." He began to interrupt her, but she stalled his words with a firm hand against his chest. "You know as well as I do that as commander of the Atlantis Expedition I might be called upon to make the kind of decisions that I wouldn't ordinarily make. It's what being in command is all about. Sometimes you just have to play it by ear and hope it works out alright."

"But you know you've dodge a bullet this time, don't you?"

"Yes."

Daniel let out a long sigh, his gaze wandering away from that of his fiancée to land upon that of his long time nemesis.

"So I guess the question now is... now that he's here... what do I do with him?"

"The Odyssey's swinging by in eight hours to pick us up. You've got until then to give him the full guided tour." Sam nodded toward the errant archaeologist as he wandered around the base of the Stargate, his hands running over the inner rim of glyphs. "He actually seems quite curious, but then again that could be more to do with the fact that he's realised that he has no other option."

"He's quite literally and figuratively a captive audience."

Sam nodded.

"Show him the dig site, get his hands dirty, show him what real archaeology is all about. In short, Daniel, show him what you've been doing for the past decade."

Colonel Dixon hit one of the glyphs on the DHD sending the inner rim that Pritchard was studying spinning. Startled, the archaeologist back peddled away from the gate with such haste that he tripped and landed on his backside, much to the amusement of the Colonel and his team.

Daniel turned back to Sam.

"So... whose idea was it to tamper with the frequency dampeners?"

"The frequency dampeners?" Sam replied innocently, although the slight flush of her cheeks gave her away. "What makes you think they were tampered with?"

"Because that green and queasy look that Pritchard arrived with reminded me of a certain young Captain who came through the Abydos gate. A certain young Captain, I recall, who immediately remedied that particular quirk of gate travel."

Sam had the good grace to look away.

"Pritchard's arrogance combined with the fact that he doesn't hide the fact that he is contemptuous of the military managed to upset a lot of people at the Alpha site. Any one of them could have taken the dampeners off line."

"Uh huh, but only one person would know how to bypass the redundancies that she built into the system."

Having been busted, Sam held her hands up in mock surrender.

"I plead extraneous circumstances."

"Are you through playing with him now?"

Sam nodded.

"I might be, but I'm not so sure that Dixon and his men are, they're not likely to easily forget some of the things he called them."

"Just keep them in line, Sam, we want him to return to Earth in one piece."

"Which is why I made them leave their zat's on the Odyssey, that way they can't kill him and then hide the evidence."

Daniel looked at her aghast.

Sam winked at him.

"Gotcha, Doctor Jackson."

Tugging on the hand that he still held within his, he walked them toward where Dixon and Pritchard now stood glaring at each other.

"God... how I wish I had some coffee, it would make the prospect of spending eight hours with Adam Pritchard more bearable."

"Then it's a good job that I brought some of Kenya's finest Arabica beans with me then, isn't it?"

Daniel stopped and looked at her, a broad beam of a smile breaking across his lips.

"You're not kidding me?"

"C'mon, Daniel, you've tasted the coffee aboard the Odyssey." Sam affectionately patted the side of her backpack. "Now I make sure that I never leave home without some of the good stuff."

Despite the fact that he was probably breaking a whole host of rules... Daniel pulled her into his arms and kissed her.


	13. Chapter 13

**Pariah**

**Chapter 13**

Sam was seriously thinking of having Pritchard classified as a form of cruel and unusual punishment.

The last couple of days had been an exercise in stress management, especially since the archaeologist had regained most of his inherent obnoxiousness early on in their voyage to the Alpha site.

It wasn't just the incessant personal jibes that she had had to contend with, on the whole she could deal with them, but it was also the fact that Pritchard had managed to antagonise almost every crew member that he had come into contact with.

She had spent most of the last few days trying to smooth some pretty ruffled feathers.

In the case of Dixon and SG- 13 those feathers had turned into porcupine quills and she doubted that things would settle down until Pritchard was back on Earth.

All in all the last few days had left her feeling so exhausted that she barely had the energy left to raise her hand in order to stifle the jaw breaking yawn that now threatened to engulf her.

She cast gritty eyes toward her watch.

Seventeen thirty two Odyssey time, which meant that in less than three hours the ship would be returning to beam her, SG-13 and their troublesome cargo back onboard.

A gust of wind took that moment to blow against the outside of the field tent that she now occupied, causing it to billow inward, the sudden movement caught Sam's eye and she looked away from studying her chronograph.

Across from where she sat, Daniel was patiently trying to explain something to Pritchard. His voice was soft, but it carried a slight trace of restrained annoyance in its tone. Sam noticed that he had that frown etched between his eyes, the one he always got whenever he was quickly becoming exasperated.

She couldn't say that she blamed him, Adam Pritchard had the propensity to try the patience of a saint.

When Daniel had first started to show Pritchard around the dig site he had been subdued, his obvious curiosity with everything around him piqued and coming to the fore, but that respite had soon subsided and the other man's natural abrasiveness had once more re- asserted itself.

It had soon become obvious that he was casting around for a target, unfortunately it was Nyan that found himself within Pritchard's cross hairs.

Poor sweet Nyan whose innocence was almost childlike at times.

He had made the mistake of letting it slip that he had come from an alien world, a world that SG-1 had found themselves incarcerated upon.

Pritchard had looked him up and down, a disbelieving smirk evident upon his face, not even trying to mask the scepticism with regard to Nyan's story. Both Daniel and Sam had tried to back him up pointing out the pivotal role that the young researcher had played in helping them to escape.

It had done nothing to halt Pritchard's interrogation of him and at times he had been merciless. Nyan, never the most confident of men, had become so distressed by his treatment that he had stuttered an apology to Daniel before hastily taking his leave from the tent for whereabouts unknown.

Sam had sent Dixon and SG-13 after him to ensure that he was okay.

Of course with Nyan's departure, Pritchard had turned his vitriolic tongue back toward his favourite whipping boy.

Daniel.

"So let me get this straight, Jackson, you believe that all these artefacts purport to belong to some alien pretending to be the Egyptian Goddess Sekhmet, am I right?"

Daniel sighed heavily, running a hand through his already unruly hair.

"Like I've explained, the Goa'uld have impersonated not only most of the pantheon of the Ancient Egyptian world, but those from other classical mythologies too." Daniel glanced wearily toward Sam, his eyes showing his rapidly increasing frustration. "The artefacts found here are not directly attributed to the Goa'uld impersonating Sekhmet, but to one of her governors. She wouldn't have bothered herself with coming to an out of the way planet such as this, she was only interested in it for the Naquada that could be mined from it."

"And you know this how...?"

"From the writings and inscriptions that we've found, the site is made up of two distinct areas, one built for the governor and his minions and the other for the workers." Daniel frowned at his nemesis. "I thought you said that you read up on some of the mission reports on your way out here? If you did then you would see that this kind of set up was normal."

"I did read the reports and what fascinating reading it was too." Pritchard picked up what looked like a dirt encrusted bowl and studied it intently, chipping away some of the dirt with an immaculately manicured fingernail. "There were times when I wasn't quite sure as to whether I was reading a bone fide military debrief or the latest novel from some overly imaginative science fiction writer."

Pritchard placed the bowl he had been studying back upon the trestle table and placed his hands down on either side of it, his eyes locking with Daniel's.

"Some of those mission reports were so utterly preposterous that they beggared belief. Do you really expect me to accept such things at face value?"

"They're the truth, Adam."

Something in the air shifted and Sam felt the tension between the two men rise significantly. To her that didn't bode well, so she slipped off of the stool that she had been occupying while watching the exchange and crossed to take up a position at Daniel's side.

"You know, Jackson, instead of believing the first crackpot theory that presents itself, you should have queried what you were seeing for a more logical answer." Pritchard picked up one of the canopic jars, turning it over in his hands, scrutinising it briefly before putting it back down again. "According to you and your somewhat equally creative colleagues, these Goa'uld are parasitical creatures that take over the bodies of their... what is it you call them... ah yes... hosts."

Daniel shook his head in disbelief.

"Adam, there is enough evidence in those files to convince the most diehard sceptic." His voice rose an octave higher than usual, an indicator to Sam that he was rapidly running out of patience with Pritchard's bull headedness. "Those top secret medical reports clearly show that the Goa'uld are parasitical by nature, but if that isn't enough to sway you... I've seen them take a host, I know what they do to them, what they put them through."

Pritchard briefly tapped his finger against his lips.

"Has it ever occurred to you that it might have been an elaborate act?"

"An act?"

Daniel's voice was incredulous.

Sam watched as he tried to contain his ever increasing disbelief over Pritchard's continued dogged refusal to accept any of the information that he had been allowed access to.

"Dr Pritchard," she said trying to keep as much neutrality in her voice as possible, "when a Goa'uld takes a host it embeds itself inside them, wrapping itself around the brain stem. It uses the central nervous system to administer excruciating pain if the host resists, imposing its will until it is strong enough to completely take control of them. Trust me, like, Daniel, I have witnessed it and it isn't an act."

"What's more," Daniel continued, "something of the host remains, they are fully aware of what they are being forced to do, but the Goa'uld ensures that there is nothing that the host can do to prevent it, it is a form of torture that the Goa'uld seem to be particularly fond of."

"All very interesting, Jackson, but by definition a parasite is nothing more than a creature that needs to live off of its host to survive," Pritchard countered, "they have been known to induce fever, sometimes convulsions, occasionally they can evoke a form of mania, such as that found in the parasite responsible for cerebral malaria." Pritchard's arms crossed his chest, his stance resonating the challenging tone of his words. "Now I am not a biologist, but I do not believe that there has been a documented case whereby the parasite has the ability to overwhelm its human host to the extent that it is able to control not only their bodily processes, but their mental ones too."

Daniel shook his head.

"Adam, you are trying to quantify this by using biological Earth standards. The Goa'uld are not a microscopic pest that can be eradicated by a high dose of antibiotics, they are highly sentient beings who live for hundreds, if not thousands of years, changing hosts countless times. They are immoral and take sadistic pleasure from forcing their hosts to perform some of the most abhorrent things imaginable."

"That sounds like an all too familiar human trait to me, that of a dictatorial zealot. Perhaps what you have here is not an infestation by a megalomaniacal parasite as you propose, but nothing more than an alien version of say Pol Pot or Idi Amin."

"Unbelievable..." Sam ran an exasperated hand around the base of her neck wishing that she could massage away Pritchard's annoying stubbornness as easily as she could the tension in her muscles. "you actually believe that?"

"Colonel Carter, it doesn't take a parasitical creature to turn people into monsters, although I have to admit that using one as a means of explaining their actions is a novel idea. I would suggest that most, if not all, of your Goa'uld are probably nothing more than a group of unhinged individuals using this parasitical possession theory as a means to justify their lust for power. The whole glowing eye and resonating voice thing is nothing more than a convenient prop so that they can subdue those that they wish to dictate."

"Damn it, Pritchard," Daniel growled, his anger finally spilling over, "you've seen the photographs of the Goa'uld husks removed from their dead victims. You've read the testimony from our allies that refers to the perfected procedure that they use to remove a Goa'uld from a live host without harming them, why the hell can't you accept it?"

"I accept that there is a parasitical element to all this, what I don't accept is that the parasite is responsible for those people becoming despots. For example, the Nazi's were a group of delusional people that formed themselves into an elitist group that gained power through manipulation and propaganda. It was their delusional paranoia that was responsible for the genocide of millions and yet they did not possess a parasite in their heads. I believe your Goa'uld are nothing more than that."

"That's a good analogy, Adam, but there is one big flaw in it. I've seen them take good people, honest people, completely sane people and turn them into something that is purely evil."

"How do you know that these people were not unhinged to begin with?" Pritchard pressed, "How can you be sure that those so called hosts were not already susceptible to a mental illness? What if your precious aliens were nothing more than delusional schizophrenics?"

"For God's sake, Adam," Daniel roared, his face turning scarlet with rage, "one of them was my wife!"

"Daniel..." Sam cautioned.

She rested her hand upon his arm, hoping that it would still his words, that he wouldn't give Pritchard even more ammunition to hurt him with.

She feared that he had already said too much.

Pritchard's eyes widened with surprise.

"You were married to an alien? "

The archaeologist chuckled softly to himself.

"That's enough, Pritchard!" Sam warned.

"It's okay, Sam, it might help him understand."

Daniel's eyes met briefly with hers before turning back toward Pritchard.

"Her name was Sha're and we met on a planet called Abydos. We had been married for just over a year when a Goa'uld called Aphopis took her to be the host for his Queen Amonet. Sha're was a gentle and caring woman, she hated violence, she couldn't abide suffering in any shape or form, but Amonet turned her into someone unrecognisable. She made her do things that I know Sha're would never have done in a million years, she made her hurt people, she made her hurt the people that she cared about, people she loved, Amonet even forced her to try and kill me."

An uncomfortable silence filled the tent.

Sam held her breath.

Waiting.

Hoping.

Hoping that Pritchard would for once show a modicum of understanding and compassion.

"Like I said, Daniel, there was possibly a form of psychosis already involved. How else would you explain the poor unfortunate woman agreeing to a union with you?"

Sam winced.

Oh Crap!

The punch that Daniel threw at Pritchard connected with his jaw, sending the archaeologist careening into the trestle table. His momentum caused both him and the table to topple over, sending artefacts flying in all directions, some smashing against each other as they impacted with the makeshift wooden floorboards.

Daniel stalked toward Pritchard's prone position, his fists clenched at his side.

"I've taken all that I'm going to take from you..."

"Daniel..." Knowing that nothing good could come from an altercation between the two men, Sam positioned herself between them, "...let it go... he's not worth it."

But Daniel seemed past caring and his face was full of something she had never seen in all the years that she had known him...

Pure unadulterated hate.

He made to brush past her, clearly wanting nothing more than to get at Pritchard, but Sam braced both of her palms against his chest, pushing her weight against him, making herself a physical barrier between them.

"God knows he deserves it, Daniel, but please think about what you're doing?"

It was then that she heard it.

The distinctive high pitched shriek of a Goa'uld symbiote.

"What the hell..." Pulling her hands away from Daniel, they went instinctively toward the P90 clipped to her tac vest. Pivoting around sharply, she trained the weapon in the direction the sound had come from. "Daniel, how the hell did a symbiote get in here?"

For a moment Daniel seemed stunned, then he shook his head.

"The canopic jars. We haven't had a chance to x-ray them." He looked down at the broken shards of pottery on the floorboards. "The jar must have smashed open when the table went over."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Nestling the P90 more snugly against her shoulder, Sam quickly scanned the area around them, but to no avail. Giving up on trying to find the symbiote, she settled instead on trying to limit the possible damage. "Pritchard, listen to me. I need you to slowly get up off the floor and make your way toward me, okay?"

Pritchard's slumped form stared at her with slightly unfocused eyes.

"Are you pointing a weapon at me Colonel?"

"Just do it!"

"And should I refuse... I'll suppose you'll shoot me?"

"Does everything have to be an argument with you, just get up off the Goddamn floor."

"Why should I?"

At that moment the symbiote slithered into view, its mouth agape, its jaws gnashing as it tasted the air around it, its senses alerted to a warm and living presence in the room.

At the sight of it, Pritchard's face drained of all colour and his eyes went as large as saucers.

"My God! What the hell is that?"

"Daniel, it's too close... I don't have a clear shot..." Sam yelled, trying to get a bead on the squirming creature as it slithered at an alarming rate toward the prone archaeologist.

Pritchard scrambled backward on his ass as the Goa'uld streaked toward him, trying to put as much distance between himself and it as he possibly could.

"For God's sake shoot it!" Pritchard screamed. "Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!"

Pritchard's scrambling body hit the base of the upturned table, shuddering him to an undignified halt at the exact same moment as the Goa'uld used the last of its strength to launch itself at its impending new host.

A high pitched whine, quickly followed by a burst of static electricity enveloped the Goa'uld mid flight bringing it crashing headlong into the floorboards at Pritchard's side where it continued to thrash as the charge dissipated within it.

Daniel stepped forward, his zat raised and aimed at the symbiote as he sent another burst of energy into its flailing body.

The thrashing abruptly stopped.

Sam let out the breath that she had been holding and shared a knowing look with Daniel.

That had been way too close.

If Pritchard had been taken as a host the ramifications would have been unthinkable.

Stepping toward the now dead Goa'uld, Daniel bent down to pick it up, holding it so that its limp head and tail flopped out of either side of his hand.

Squatting down at the now relieved, but still shaking Pritchard, he proffered the carcass toward him.

"Still think a Goa'uld symbiote is benign now? If I hadn't stopped it, it would have burrowed itself into the back of your neck and taken you for its next host. These tendrils..." he put down the zat so that he could use his other hand to pull free a couple of the long filaments that lay against the side of the symbiote's body,"... they would have wound their way around your cerebral cortex, anchoring the parasite onto your brain stem, it would have taken control of your body in a matter of hours?"

Pritchard stared wide eyed at the carcass with a face so pale that Sam thought he was about to pass out.

"I didn't..." he stammered, for once at a loss for a snide comeback, "... I didn't realise... they could be so... so..."

"Aggressive?" Sam finished for him.

Pritchard looked at her, nodding slowly in agreement.

Shakily he got to his feet, his hand coming up to wipe away the accumulated perspiration from his face.

"Are you certain that it is dead?"

"It's dead," Daniel confirmed, picking the zat up from the floor as he stood up. "Want to take a closer look?"

Pritchard took a hasty step back and shook his head vehemently.

"No thank you." The still unsettled archaeologist's eyes came up to meet with Daniel's. "I believe I owe you an apology,"

Daniel glanced across at Sam, his face a portrait of incredulity.

Sam just shrugged at him.

Go with it.

"Is this because I just saved you from a living hell?"

"No, no, although as you can imagine I'm very grateful that you did. I can see now that I was wrong in my assumption that those creatures were in anyway benign. You were right, I shouldn't have used an Earth standard with which to measure them."

"I don't think that is the only apology that Daniel deserves, do you Doctor Pritchard?" Sam asked as she walked to where Daniel stood and relieved him of the limp carcass. She examined it for a brief moment, before letting it fall with a dull thud to the floor.

"Yes... yes you're right."

Pritchard swallowed heavily a couple of times as he searched for the words that Sam knew would be unpalatable for him.

"It would appear, Daniel, that your theory is not so farfetched as it first seemed. Your hypothesis regarding the ancient pyramids might well have had some credence after all. Furthermore I believe that the society may have acted rashly in revoking your credentials."

"Is that all?" Sam planted her hands on her hips in exasperation. "You are standing on a planet thousands of light years away from Earth. You've actually travelled through the Stargate to get here, a device I might add that only came into existence because of Daniel's tireless work. Work that began with his hypothesis regarding the Ancient pyramids and you have the tenacity to say that his hypothesis only has some credence?"

"It's okay, Sam..." Daniel interrupted, his voice soft and conciliatory, "all I wanted was a fair hearing."

"You deserve more than that, Daniel." Sam turned to face him. "You deserve more than a cursory apology."

"Colonel Carter's right." Pritchard looked around the tent, spying the stool that Sam had been sitting on in the corner. Shakily he walked toward it and gingerly lowered himself down on it. "As much as it irks me to admit it, what I have witnessed these past few days have more than proven your hypothesis to be sound. Although I still can't bring myself to believe that the Ancient pyramids were landing sites for alien vessels, you have witnessed landings occurring on similar structures, therefore I believe you have provided enough evidence to at least make the theory plausible.

One more thing... the things I said about your wife... " Pritchard stood, crossing the small distance between them, a look of genuine contrition on his face. "I can't for one moment imagine what it must have been like... I don't know how I would have..." For once there was only sincerity in his voice. "I know that I don't deserve it, in fact your were well within your rights to have struck me, but I hope that you can forgive me for the things I said."

"It's done, Adam, I for one am not going to dwell on it."

"Thank you."

Sam looked away from the two men, giving them some time to come to terms with their fragile reconciliation. She surveyed the destruction done to the artefacts that lay in pieces at the foot of the upturned table and let out a long, soft whistle.

"Wow ! This is going to take some cleaning up."

Just then the tent flap was shrugged aside and Dave Dixon peeked his head through, he did a double take when he saw the strewn pottery and upturned table, but refrained from commenting when Sam gave him a stern shake of her head.

"Ah... just had word from the Odyssey, they've pushed up their ETA and will be within beaming range in twenty minutes."

"Roger that Colonel, would you mind escorting Doctor Pritchard to the pre arranged coordinates, I'll join you in a few minutes."

Dixon nodded and pulled the tent flap further open so that Pritchard could exit.

"Daniel." Pritchard extended his hand.

Daniel looked at it for a brief second before taking it in his and shaking it.

"Adam."

Pritchard left, leaving Sam and Daniel alone inside the tent.

"I'm sorry, Daniel, this was so nearly a monumental screw up!"

"Hey!" Daniel pulled her into a tight hug. "It's okay, it turned out alright in the end." He pulled back a little, his eyes intently focusing on hers. "But will you promise me that you won't pull another stunt like that?"

"It got you what you deserved , it got you your vindication and on top of that a personal apology from Pritchard."

"Yes it did," he cupped her jaw in his hand, "but it wasn't worth risking your career. I don't want you doing that for me, Sam, not again... okay?"

Sam nodded.

"Okay."

"Good."

Daniel leaned forward and kissed her softly on the lips.

"Colonel Carter, this is the Odyssey, we are in orbit above the planet, ma'am. Awaiting instructions to beam you back aboard."

The unexpectedness of the transmission caused Sam to start in Daniel's arms, her mouth reluctantly pulling away from his with a soft pop.

"I'm afraid that duty calls."

"So soon... can't you tell them to circle the block a few times."

Sam gave him a smile.

"If only I could, but unfortunately a certain annoying package needs to be delivered back to Earth."

"Don't give him a hard time, Sam."

"That depends upon how hard a time he decides to give me."

"I get the feeling that the trip back is going to be quieter. I think this trip has really shaken him up, he's going to have a lot to think about, it could even be life changing."

"Leopards can't change their spots, Daniel. Give him a couple of days back on Earth and he'll go back to his default setting, trust me." Sam stepped away from Daniel's embrace and took his hand in hers. "Come Doctor Jackson, walk me to my car."

Together they exited the tent.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N ** **A great heartfelt thanks to everyone that has stuck with this story. This is the final chapter and I hope that you have all enjoyed it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. **

**As always let me know what you think.**

**On a more serious note. I am going to be taking a bit of a break from writing or I should say posting to this site. I doubt I could stop writing, there is just too much Sam and Daniel in me to put the quill down for good, but real life is too hectic at the moment and I find that I have little time to spare for sitting down to write.**

** I know I have a couple of stories still unfinished and I hate leaving them that way, so I will endeavour to finish them, but it might be a while between chapters.**

**Anyway I hope you all enjoy the finale to this story!**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter Fourteen**

' _Dear Doctor Jackson,_

_It is with great pleasure that we write to you confirming your re-instatement as a fellow of the Archaeological and Anthropological Society._

_Furthermore we hereby enclose your revised and updated credentials and hope that you will take the opportunity to join us in our forthcoming Annual General Meeting, which will convene on the morning of 2__nd__ July at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Chicago._

_We look forward to once again making your acquaintance and hope that you find the enclosed arrangements for your stay to be satisfactory.'_

Daniel stared at the gilt edged invitation with wide eyed disbelief.

Unbelievable.

The invitation had arrived that morning and judging by Walter's rather erratic scrawl on the post it note, he hadn't quite known what to do with it.

Daniel wasn't too sure what to do with it either.

He fingered the invitation for a few seconds longer before placing it back down on the almost empty workbench before him.

He had to admit that Pritchard's timing was impeccable.

For the invitation and the seemingly seamless reinstatement of his archaeological credentials had arrived on the very day that he was about to begin his new life in the Pegasus Galaxy.

Daniel took a moment to slowly look around the familiar surroundings of the lab that had been his second home for more than a decade. Gone were the detritus of his normal everyday working life, most of it boxed up for shipment on the Daedalus or put into storage until such a time as it were needed again.

The artefacts that he had inherited from Catherine Langford's estate were now on their way to various museums as donations. All in all the once over flowing bookcases and work benches now looked uncharacteristically bare and Daniel couldn't help feeling a small pang of sadness.

He tried to calculate how many nights he had spent secreted away in this lab diligently working through the night in order to decipher the meaning behind some archaic stone tablet or hunched over some perplexing and unintelligible alien trade agreement.

A small smile played across his lips as he remembered just how many of those nights had been spent ensconced in this room with Sam.

Back then they had been fellow conspirators each of them defying Jack's explicit orders to rest so that they could indulge in their shared curiosity over whatever latest mystery was at hand.

Over mugs of strong coffee a mutual respect for one another had solidified into a deep abiding friendship. Their love of science had bound them together in a way that no other team building exercise could ever have come close to achieving.

The foundations of their complex relationship had been laid down in this room and the thought of his lab being used by someone else, by some other member of Stargate Command somehow felt wrong.

Daniel sighed softly.

He had to keep reminding himself that this was not the end of his journey, but the start of a new and exciting chapter in his life.

Shaking himself out of his melancholic stupor he crossed to where a large cardboard box sat on the edge of the workbench and began loading it with his extensive collection of field journals.

Picking up one of the journals, he began to leaf through it, his words bringing to life in vivid detail the last mission that he and SG-1 had undertaken. Abruptly he stopped reading and closed the journal, his hands clenching around the soft leather.

God... he was going to miss this place.

"Finding it hard to say goodbye?"

He turned to find Sam standing in his doorway. She had changed her clothing from earlier, the BDU's she had been wearing now replaced by her dress uniform.

"You could say that...," Daniel confessed somewhat sheepishly, "... I guess I didn't realise until now just how much this place means to me."

Sam crossed the room and stopped in front of him, a soft smile playing across her lips.

"If it's any consolation I had a tough time too." Slipping her arms around Daniel's shoulders, she leaned into his personal space. "You're not getting second thoughts, are you?"

"As if..." Daniel took a moment to settle the journal on the counter top, then slipped both of his arms around her waist. "Who in their right mind would turn down the chance to explore all the wonders of the Pegasus Galaxy? What fool would give up the right to learn all the knowledge of the Ancients that's held within the Atlantis base?"

Sam gave him a pout.

"There was me thinking that I was the one that held all the allure, but when it comes right down to it, you're more interested in some mouldy old archives."

Daniel cocked his head to one side and frowned at her.

"Mouldy old archives... ?"

"You know what I mean..."

He lifted a hand and ran it tenderly through her hair, brushing a couple of loose strands from her forehead. She had let it grow a little longer and she had already told him that the less strict regulations on Atlantis meant that she would be able to grow it out completely.

He was kind of looking forward to seeing her with long hair.

"Trust me, Sam, mouldy old archives, have nothing on you."

He ran his hand down her left arm and caught her hand in his, bringing it up so that he could scrutinize the sparkling engagement ring and bright gold wedding band that adorned her third finger.

He bent his head forward and brushed a soft kiss across them.

"What we have means more to me than all the knowledge of the Ancients and the wonders of Atlantis combined."

Dropping her hand, he pulled her against him for a long and languid kiss.

For a few brief seconds Sam seemed to lose herself in the moment, her hands travelling over his back and up across his neck and into his hair. Then with what sounded light a moan of disappointment, she forced herself to step back and away from him.

"Time out, Doctor Jackson, I can't take command of the Atlantis Expedition with a creased and dishevelled uniform."

"Have I ever told you how sexy you look in dress blues?"

Sam rolled her eyes.

"You're incorrigible."

"So I've been told." His smile faltered as a rather unsettling thought occurred to him. "Sam, has Atlantis been informed of our changed status? I mean they do know that we're married right and that we should be assigned married quarters?"

"I've been led to believe that they have, why?"

"It's just you know..." he shrugged his shoulders, " I've kinda become accustomed to us..."

"Sleeping together..."

"Amongst other things..."

Sam shook her head at him in amusement and muttered something under her breath that he didn't quite catch.

"Hey, what's this?" Noticing the invitation on the workbench, she sidestepped around him and picked it up.

"Proof that leopards can change their spots."

Sam looked at him for a moment, her eyes full of puzzlement before looking away toward the gilt edged invitation.

Her lips formed upon a soft whistle.

"Wow! He actually came through for you."

"In a way I guess."

She frowned at him.

"What do you mean?"

"I would prefer to say that the status quo has been re-established. The archaeological society are none the wiser and as long as the Stargate Programme remains a secret it's going to stay that way. The only difference now is that Pritchard knows the truth, but he is now bound by the same secrecy rules as we are, so in a way it makes no difference, things haven't progressed at all."

"He did apologise to you on the planet."

Daniel huffed out a laugh.

"That was more down to the fact that I stopped him being infested with a larval Goa'uld than anything else."

"Still... it was an apology... of sorts."

"Yeah I guess."

Sam stared at the invitation for a moment longer then replaced it back on the workbench.

She glanced down at her watch.

"We're due to embark in ten minutes, you better finish up."

"Ordering me around, Colonel?"

"Since when do you ever listen to orders, Daniel."

He gave her a mischievous look.

"Oh, I can think of one or two I've been known to obey."

Sam's face turned a interesting shade of scarlet.

Chuckling to himself he turned back to the pile of half packed journals and began to load them more hastily into the box. Pulling the flaps closed, he ran the tape gun across it.

"It's kinda funny how all I have to show for over a decade of my life is a few cardboard boxes."

His packing for his new life was done, now all he had to do was say goodbye to his old one.

"I guess Mitchell and the others are waiting for us in the gate room, huh?"

When he didn't receive the expected reply he turned to find Sam staring at him tears streaming down her face.

"Sam, what is it? What's wrong?"

He crossed to her, his arms instinctively going around her in comfort.

"It's nothing... I'm just being silly."

Daniel cradled her face in his hands, gently wiping away her tears with his fingers.

"Silly or not, why don't you tell me."

"What you just said reminded me of when you were gone." She hitched a faltering breath. "After you left I came in here wanting to find some kind of closure. Your things were here just as you had left them before we went on the mission to Kelowna. I couldn't stop myself from picking them up, your journals, your glasses, everything I touched reminded me of you and I'd hoped that in some way they would re-establish the link between us that had been broken by your... by your..."

She faltered.

"Ascension," Daniel finished for her.

She nodded.

"I guess a part of me was in denial. I was still coming to terms with the epiphany I had had at your bedside regarding my feelings for you."

"Did you find your closure?"

She shook her head.

"It just re-enforced the enormity of all that I had lost."

Daniel's hands slipped from her face to settle on her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Sam. I'm sorry I caused you so much pain."

"I got lucky, Daniel, you came back, not a lot of people get to have a second chance and I'm going to make sure that we embrace every second of the one that we've been given."

She placed a tender kiss upon his lips.

"I love you, Daniel Jackson."

He kissed her softly on the cheek, wiping away the single errant tear that had slipped down her face.

"I love you too,"

Sam's hand entwined with his.

"Are you ready?" she asked, "Or do you need a little more time?"

He shook his head.

"I'm ready, Sam."

Daniel let go of her hand so that he could scoop up the cardboard box from the workbench. He turned and began to make his way toward the exit of his lab for the last time, Sam close at his side. Then abruptly he stopped and turned around, crossing the short distance back to his workbench.

Picking up the invitation, he proceeded back toward the doorway, but just as he was about to cross out into the corridor, he dropped the invitation into the trashcan.

The Society of Archaeologists knew what they could do with their invitation.

He had a whole new galaxy to explore.

A whole new life.

And a woman to love.

**The End**


End file.
